Matt Forte on potential coaching changes: You roll with the punches

AP

The Bears are limping to the finish of a losing season that’s gone off the rails in just about every way possible and that’s led to ever-increasing chatter about the possibility of major changes to organization when the year comes to an end.

Head coach Marc Trestman, offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer, defensive coordinator Mel Tucker and General Manager Phil Emery have all heard calls for their head in recent weeks, something that’s surely filtered down to the players on the roster. Running back Matt Forte is part of that group, but he said after Monday night’s loss that he’ll take whatever comes in stride.

“I don’t worry about that, no,” Forte said, via ESPNChicago.com. “That’s not my job to be worried about that stuff. If changes happen, you roll with the punches and all that stuff. I’m here to play football and be coached and be coachable. Whatever happens … happens. I do my best to learn what I need to in the classroom and go out and display that on the field.”

You’ll often hear players offer a bit of support for their coaches at the end of even the hardest seasons, although it’s hard to read much into Forte’s choice to acknowledge the truth about how little say players have over such decisions. The control they have extends only to what they accomplish on the field and that die was cast a long time ago for the 2014 Bears.

28 responses to “Matt Forte on potential coaching changes: You roll with the punches

  1. The Bears are utterly absent of leadership from top to bottom. The lack of passion and pride, the continuously repeated mistakes and horrible fundamentals (repeated game after game), the embarrassing gaffes that are so unique to this team (10 men on the field on a failed fake punt – really?), and all their many other woes all tie back to the fact that there is not a single strong personality who is setting and holding people to a high standard.

    Unfortunately, the highest you can realistically expect a change to be made is at the GM level and, as a former Phil Emery believer, I now believe that needs to happen. This will now be the third year of his watch, and not only have the Bears not made the playoffs in those three years, but their record has gotten worse each year. This year’s team in particular is so much worse than the team he inherited that it’s astounding. He had his chance to play GM, and has failed badly. Take away his office key, kick him back down to chief scout (although the McClellin pick has to even call those credentials into question), bring in someone who knows how to build a winning organization and go with the coaching and roster changes from there.

  2. Trestman may have had potential in this league but he’s surrounded by guys who need to go – Emery and both coordinators – and so he’s probably got to go with them. Complete house cleaning at the top.

  3. Forte is a true professional and he will show up to work. However, they should bench him these last 2 games – I don’t want him risking injury out there.

    As far as the comment above about a lack of leadership – from the moment they came in here, these two nerds Emery and Trestman tried to put their own stamp on the team by dissing and ultimately jettisoning team legends like Urlacher (and a year later Devin Hester), only to replace them with washed up veterans like DJ Williams or Eric Weems – in other words, players who weren’t an improvement or even that much of a salary cap saving. Guys/team legends like Briggs & Tillman see the way these Hall of Famers were treated by these 2 morons who haven’t accomplished anything in the NFL, and you can bet it resonated in the locker room.

  4. Everyone is dumping on the Cutler signing, and forgets that last year he looked pretty good before he was injured. And it’s a lot of money, but quarterbacks are. Were the supposed to let him walk and resign McCown? I think much like the Bengals, they really had to keep their quarterback, but they overpaid to do so.

  5. claymatthewshairplugs says:
    Dec 16, 2014 2:33 PM
    Hopefully they find a coach who won’t allow the team to QUIT before the season ends.

    ______________________________________

    before the season ends, you mean before it began. I knew this was going to be a bad season when Briggs was in California for week 1 practice. Also we have BMarsh on Inside the NFL every week instead of focusing on the team. Both Lance and Brandon are 2 very big faces of the team and that’s not setting a very good example. Trestman is not capable of being a HC if he lets his players do what they want. The Bears season was over week 1, no doubt. Heads need to roll…..NOW!

  6. What’s really interesting (and telling) is the absolute lack of any Bears players coming out with public support for any of the coaches. The ones who are still giving effort are likely doing it from personal pride absent – if not in spite of – how they feel about the coaches.

  7. dietrich43 says:
    Dec 16, 2014 2:41 PM

    Were the [sic] supposed to let him walk and resign McCown?

    Yes, that’s exactly what they should have done.

  8. It’s weird what expectations can do to perspective. With AP and a rookie QB lowering expectations, most Viking fans are not all that fragged about the Vikes’ 6 wins so far. Despite only one less loss, Bears fans, who justifiably expected a playoff team, are ready to tar and feather the coaching and management staffs.

  9. Emery and Trestman are two extremely intelligent men of high character, who work as hard as anyone else out there. The problem is that they have zero people skills, no innate charisma, and are not natural leaders. They are both working at positions a couple of levels higher than their competencies and the results have been out there for everyone to see all season.

  10. John Keim, clueless Washington Redskin expert for ESPN, is reporting that the Redskins, Buccaneers, Jaguars, and Bears will be having a coaching sharing agreement where they each get to test drive a proven loser. Lovie doesn’t think he’s a loser and the Bears might just accept mediocrity that he delivered instead of pathetic that they’ve had since.

    There could be one wrench thrown into this agreement – Washington owner Daniel “Lil Napoleon” Snyder might trade Brian Hype-po and Ginger Rogers Griffin and Chubbs Gruden for the Oakland Head Coach and a statue of Al Davis for his big boy desk.

    Stay tuned for the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies as done by the NFL fired head coaches and NFL Referee Ed Hochuli who will call leading with the head penalties while dancing on his toes.

  11. Saw a couple of missed blitz pickups last night by Forte -the whole team has thrown in the towel from the looks of it. Just hope that they can show up for the last two games – that just isnt the Bears team we have grown to expect – even during losing seasons. While cutlet may need to go – there are more issues here than just one guy.

  12. bassplucker you hit all the nails on the heads i wanna quote all your posts on fb.

    I was a HUGE Cutler supporter/defender until… well now. Gotta admit he “does get a lot of people fired”. You could just see the quit on his face after the first drive. what is that…

    The best hope for the Bears would be to go crawling back to Lovie, who’s firing I never was eager to see, ideally with a HUGE caveat that he is not allowed to even think the word ‘offense’, let along do something like pick the offensive coordinator. You need his leadership as head coach… but he desparately needs SOMEBODY else to do all the offensive thinking for him.

    but honestly even if we go back to championship defense and middling offense, at least we were a 9-7 team on the edge of the playoffs. Now we’re staring at the abyss

  13. Wonder if Jared Allen thinks the money was worth this. He could have been a Seahawk heading for the playoffs and maybe more but they wouldn’t over pay him.

    Of course at the time like so many others he said he did it for the chance to win.

  14. Between the Cutler and Allen deals, those are two huge mistakes (in a short span of time) for a GM to recover from… making the ice under Emery even thinner if the McCaskeys have to eat coaching contracts on top of that yet.

  15. That’s exactly the right attitude. I don’t blame Forte for not getting me the 6.5 points I needed to get into the ff Super Bowl. I do blame all the other Bears and the entire sucking franchise. — Lions fan

  16. I like Forte – but good Lord – he whiffed on so many blocks last night – almost like he WANTS Cutler to get killed.

  17. Matt Forte is a football PLAYER and a VERY GOOD ONE. Even so, as such, he has NO say so regarding ANYTHING involving the FO OR coaching staff. So WHY WOULD he comment on it?
    As to the comments above; the Cowboys would LOVE to have Jared Allen next year…on a TEAM FRIENDLY contract.

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