Ian Rapoport of NFL.com examined the respective futures of some of the key figures within the Bears organization this morning, and the most notable item he passed along (via Twitter) is that, barring significant improvement, the team plans to fire defensive coordinator Mel Tucker after the 2014 season.
As for head coach Marc Trestman, whose job is in serious jeopardy, Rapoport tweets that he is not convinced Trestman will be replaced. This is in line with reports that PFR’s Ben Levine passed along yesterday, and there is something to be said for having some sort of consistency at the head coaching position and for giving a coach the chance to work through adversity early in his tenure with a club.
The elephant in the room, of course, is quarterback Jay Cutler, whom the team considered benching during its matchup with Tampa Bay several weeks ago (per a tweet from Rapoport). Rapoport adds (via Twitter) that the Bears have serious buyer’s remorse over Cutler’s contract, and that there is doubt within the front office that the team can consistently win with Cutler under center. Rapoport also tweets that the team could save $12.5MM against the salary cap if they could somehow trade Cutler in the offseason, and Jason Fitzergald of OverTheCap.com adds (via Twitter) that a trade would save the club $30MM of guaranteed salary over the next several years . Needless to say, it would be difficult to find a team willing to trade for Cutler at this point, but such a move would give the team and (possibly) Trestman the chance to start anew with a little financial flexibility to boot.