Report: Marinelli expected to stay on Bears staff

Posted by Darin Gantt on January 16, 2013, 10:40 AM EDT
AP

New Bears coach Marc Trestman is already working quickly to fill his staff, and part of the work might not involve relocating anyone.

According to Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times, multiple sources think Trestman will retain Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli.

Keeping an incumbent to run an already good defense makes sense, given Trestman’s focus will be on the other side of the ball.

And having some continuity might also pacify some of the players who were disillusioned with the dismissal of the popular Lovie Smith.

According to Jensen, quarterbacks coach Jeremy Bates is viewed as a good bet to remain as well, though Aaron Kromer’s addition likely means the end of the Mike Tice era.

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23 responses to “Report: Marinelli expected to stay on Bears staff”

  3. As a Bears fan I think this is great news. I was hoping they would stick it out with this defensive bunch for a while longer.

    Defense was not the problem at all. As long as they continue to feed in young talent to replace the old guys, they should continue to play at a high level. Go Bears!!!

  4. I was hoping that would be the case, and I would love the move to keep Marinelli. We already have a very solid defense, and all of our players, aging or not, are geared specifically for this defense. If we wipe out our defensive coaching staff, it would be a big blow in my opinion.

    However, we struggled so much on offense that wiping out the offensive playbook, again in my opinion, doesn’t really set us back much at all, if any, having a LOT of time now to learn it since it is only mid-January.

    Defense = Solid and masked a lot of big offensive struggles = KEEP
    Offense = VERY hard to watch at times, horrible clock management, questionable play calling, etc. etc. = REPLACE

    You look around the league and see that a new offense can be explosive the first year (Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers being the best example to come to mind).

    With the extreme detailed approach that Phil Emery uses, it’s the first time in many years I trust the Bears’ GM, and I’m very happy to say that.

  5. I like RM and think that’s the right move…but keep in mind, the coaches that are always the players’ favorites are rarely the coaches that win.

    Mike Sherman and Ray Rhodes both had a boatload of players that thought they got a raw deal when they were led out the door, mostly like guys like Favre that were trying to dictate the game plans…usually for their own benefit or belief they knew more than the coach, and often with lousy results.

    The real question is….where is Mike Tice in all of this. If he still has a card to get into the Bears complex…start the riots.

  8. First you hire a CFL coach and then keep Moronelli hahahahahaha. Bears fans your screwed cause we all know Lovie was behind the defense. The 2013 Chicago Bears are going to go 0-16.

  10. OK, let’s not get too crazy. The D was fantastic against the mediocre part of the Bears schedule, and mediocre against the upper echelon of scheduled opponents. Rod is loved by all, but the Tampa pass rush pressure that was promised never materialized during his time with the Bears. Julius Peppers didn’t become All-Pro under Rod, he was already there. I’m not saying start over on the D side, but let’s not crown the D yet as being a dominant element that is already in place and just needs to get plugged in to Trestman’s leadership. But if he stays, we at least have some chance at continuity to keep getting those takeaways.
    The positive could evolve that a better O that can get a lead will allow the pass rush to be more effective while the opponent plays catch up, which makes the secondary more effective. That cold be the advantage to having this D play alongside an O with more scoring capability.
    I don’t know how well Trestman will do with this team, but his best years were with SF, who was pretty good when he took over as OC. Over 8 years served as OC in the NFL, his TD to INT ratio is roughly 1 to 1, which shouldn’t impress anybody.

  11. Why all the love for Marinelli? Are Bears fans too blind to see that Rod was the puppet and Lovie was the puppet master on the defensive side of the ball? Smith got fired for being too much of a defensive coach. Now RM has to call the plays. Have fun with that.

  12. Big Mistake, lovie was the brains behind the defense.Marinelli is a position coach a best.You will see.

    Rock-pounding rod is a Brown-noser rah rah guy.Suprised the bears would alow theirselves to be duped like that.

    The bears seem confused, got rid of a ten win coach for what? You will look back on this 10 win season as magical soon enough..Take it from a lions fan who’s seen how great of a defensive mind rod ACTUALLY is.

  14. Um no, Lovie was not the brains behind the defense. He may have introduced the Tampa 2 to Chicago, but he had to give his defensive playcalling responsibilities away a couple years ago after the defense started slipping. Rod has had them since, and done a fantastic job. They also have played less and less Tampa 2 defense over the past few years, and for the better.

    I’m thrilled to see this. Glad to see that he’s sticking around.

  15. Marinelli has been calling the plays on Defense for two years now so those that say he can’t do it above are dead wrong. However that being said the D is aging and I don’t think they can remain a top 10 unit very long. This is an offense driven league so while Trestman was not my favorite choice I’m just excited to see them turn that way.

    As far as comments from a Lions fan…..cmon seriously? Should we take any talk about coaching serious coming from a Lions fan? Very talented roster and a coaching staff that can’t win! Thats franchise is how you set the model for failure. lol

  16. cfos00 Um Yes he was!!!!

    Rod’s defenses in detroit were worst of all time.

    You will also notice the difference in how well the defense plays by what the injury situation is. That’s not exactly rocket science.The bears defense has been decent for way longer than rodtard’s been onboard.

    When Talent out with injury? Defense suffers! talent there? Defense plays well.Not rocket science.

  17. chadman128 -I think if you get 3 years of a headcoach like rod who was so far over his head you actually get a pretty good idea of how good a coach is.He had some of the worst defenses in NFL HISTORY.

    Just an aside: lion fans don’t hire these crappy 1st time headcoaches like rod or the schwartz any more than you are responsable for your top draft choices!!!

  18. The more change the better. the way I see it Tice should have been
    gone with Lovie. and I dont know I would have kept Rod because I dont belive he can run the defense.But I would have let Cutler keep his QB’s coach.

  19. Other than the 9ers games no team scored more than 24 points, the D gave up yards, not points as the 17.3 average attests. Only the Week 11 and the last 7 minutes of the Week 13 is the only time the Marrinelli led D faltered….

  20. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

    Good call. Keeping them defensive coaches intact also helps out them players who aren’t all for change.

    I like it.

  22. I like it. Rod has been stunting more and more this previous season and switching things around… experimenting… I’ll be interested to see how he does with full control…

  23. Now it looks like he’s leaving after all, out of “loyalty to Lovie,” even though Lovie appears to be taking a year off. His lack of loyalty to the Bears means I will not miss him as much as I thought I would.

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