Tim Brown not confident about Bears' Trestman hire

Long time coordinator/quarterbacks coach and former Montreal Alouettes (CFL) head coach, Marc Trestman was hired to lead the Chicago Bears. For the Bears this hire was made to utilize the weapons they have on offense and was an indictment on former coach Lovie Smith, who was fired for the fact the offense wasn't consistent.

I don't know how Bears fans view the hire and I really don't care one way or the other, former Oakland Raiders great, Tim Brown publicly questioned the hiring of Trestman Wednesday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000.

Trestman was an assistant with the Raiders during the 2002 season, which culminated in a Super Bowl appearance for Oakland. It also marked the end of Brown as the number one receiver, something that seems to bug him to this day.

Brown goes on to say that he never viewed Trestman as head coaching material.

"I don't want to say it was a joke, but I just never saw Trestman as being a head coach," Brown said Wednesday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000.


"The year he took over as offensive coordinator is also the year my reign with the Raiders ended because he made Jerry the No. 1 receiver instead of myself," Brown said. "The year before I made the Pro Bowl and caught [91 passes for 1,165 yards] ... and the year afterwards, the year he takes over I think I came like 50 yards from catching 1,000 yards in 10 or 11 straight seasons.

"Hey, look, I'm not a selfish player, but come on, if I put the work in, make this happen for me. We had some interesting words about that part of it."

"He's a really smart guy, knows football like the back of his hand. That's not the issue," Brown said. "But there's a lot more to coaching than just X's and O's. You have to be able to deal with players and that's the reason [former Raiders coach] Bill Callahan hasn't succeeded as a head coach because he's a smart guy, knows football like the back of his hand, but when it comes to leading me, it's a totally different intangible you have to have. It's going to be very interesting to see how [Trestman] and Jay Cutler get along, that's for sure."

Ok, let me get this straight. Your not a selfish player, but basically complained about being bumped to number two next to the greatest receiver of our time, Jerry Rice. And you talk about being 50 yards short of 1,000 for 10 or 11 years. Sounds like there was a bonus on the line that he knew he was going to miss due to Rice's arrival. I liked Brown as a player, but it sounds like sour grapes to me.

I won't go and say Trestman is the next Lombardi, but he must know something to keep getting coordinator and head coaching gigs. Let's see how this shakes out before saying the guy is in over his head.