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Transcript, Part 3- Chicago Bears head coach Marc Trestman at the 2013 NFL Combine, courtesy of Mark Potash, Chicago Sun-Times
Do the Bears plan to talk with Jay Cutler's representatives about a new contract here in Indianapolis or in the offseason?
"I haven't discussed any of that with Jay or with Phil up to this point."
How difficult was it for you being out of the league and then all of the sudden interviewing with the Bears one day, the Browns the next day and trying to tailor your interviews with those particular teams. Was that a tough task?
"It was exciting as could possibly be. As our season finished, and during the five years I was in Montreal, I never focused on anything [but] being the Montreal head coach and loved every minute of it. Certainly once December rolled around and possibilities and openings came into play, I tried to focus as much as I can on even the slim possibility that there might be an opportunity. So it was not difficult at all. Certainly over the years I had always continued to put together a format for an interview process if that opportunity would come up. But the opportunity to interview there and in both places was not only a growing experience, but it was exciting and I felt totally prepared at the time."
Outside of personnel, what was the change in the NFL from when you left?
Probably nothing up to this point. I'm sure things have. The safety issues have become bigger than they've ever been. But the process that we've gone through over the first five weeks have not been any different than those that I've experienced as an assistant coach in the NFL. Just the timetable of what needs to be done going in. New staff, new coaches. New staff evaluating your team. New staff free agency and now the Combine flying into play here, almost in the blink of an eye since we started here the third week of January."
One of the knocks on Jay Cutler is his body language. As a quarterback how much do you value how a
guy carries himself on the sidelines, with the media ...
"Everybody has an opinion on that. I'm excited to coach Jay. I've had a couple of opportunities to talk with him on multiple levels and excited to work with him in all facets of his game. I really am. He's an extremely bright guy. He loves football. He's got a great skill set. So we've got to work hard to provide him the resources he can to maximize his ability and that goes into everything we're doing in all three phases with personnel department and with our coaching staff."
When you look at the offensive personnel, how different is it from what you want ideally?
"The No. 1 thing is that we expect that we know we're going to get the best out of our personnel department. And in terms of what they'll provide for us and the opportunities they'll give us to coach whoever they bring to us and whoever we decide collectively to come our way. And then it's our job to develop these players to the best of our abilities. We think we've got the coaches to do that. Development is a big part of coaching in our league and we expect to do that. We also will put in systems of football to accommodate those abilities, so we're not working to put square pegs into round holes so to speak. We're putting good football players in the position to maximize their skillset. That's part of the coaching job as well. To define or pinpoint a specific way to go isn't what coaching is necessarily all about. It's developing and putting a system of football in place on all three phases, but also collectively and teamwise continuity to get that done. And that's the exciting part of coaching."
Is Shea McClellin definitely a defensive end?
"We've talked about that. He has flexibility. He's a tremendous athlete. As we put our football team together, Dan, we'll work on that. We've had discussions about Shea and all the strengths and his weaknesses. And he's got a lot of strengths and a lot of great things he can do. As Mel [Tucker, DC] and the guys continue to put the defense together, we'll decide collectively what the best place for him to play is."
You have worked with Tim Tebow ... your thoughts on him.
"It's been far too long removed for me to comment on what's taken placed. I've been focused on the CFL. I had a great opportunity to spend some time with Tim and work with him at the time just out of college. I've really been away from it from a standpoint of even commenting what he's been through and where he is at the present time."
-Marc Trestman