The question going forward, for the Chicago Bears and for any other organization that wants to hire offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer down the road, will be if they can trust him again.
This has been a weird week for the Bears, to say the least. It started with NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reporting that the Bears had "buyer’s remorse" with quarterback Jay Cutler one year into his seven-year, $126 million contract, and specific criticisms like that he wasn’t checking out of run plays when the defense was aligned to beat them. On Monday, receiver Brandon Marshall said on WMVP-AM about Cutler that, “I would have buyer's remorse, too.” OK, then. And then on Thursday night came the strangest twist, a Chicago Tribune story that said Kromer apologized to the offense and Cutler on Monday for being the source of Rapoport’s report. Yes, an offensive coordinator apologized for leaking a story … and someone in turn leaked that story. Good times in Chicago.
Would you be worried about your job security if you were Kromer? He’ll coach the last three games, he and Bears coach Marc Trestman said, but notice how Trestman went out of his way to avoid the topic when asked directly on Friday:
Q: "Did you ever consider letting Aaron go for this?"
A: "Everybody on our staff is important. Everybody is important. As I’ve said already, Aaron has talked through this with you, I’ve, again, communicated my disappointment with him, and we’ve moved forward processing this and we’ll continue to do that and getting ready for the Saints, which our team has done an excellent job looking forward."
Trestman deflected questions about Kromer’s future, saying the situation would be handled internally.
Strangely enough, Kromer’s role in the story wouldn’t have been uncovered if his conscience didn’t bother him (source’s remorse?). Trestman said that Kromer told him what he did. Kromer decided to apologize to the offense.
“If he didn’t apologize, I wouldn’t have known that he said it,” Cutler said on Friday.
And this all led to Cutler, Kromer and Trestman having news conferences to discuss it. Kromer couldn’t have come off much worse. He basically repeated what was in the Tribune story, apologized quickly, handled one question (about why he told the players he said, "I felt it important that they knew") then acted put out to be asked any more questions about the mess he made.
"We’ll handle that internally, and we’ll go from there," Kromer said. "If there are any other football questions, I’d be happy to answer those. I’ve said pretty much what I’m going to say."
So now he doesn’t want to talk to the media. Got it. Surely the NFL Network showed his news conference live because it cared about how he planned to attack the Saints’ blitz package at the end of a 5-8 season.
Kromer said later about the offense’s troubles to “put it on me,” which is what you say in public after you’ve trashed your quarterback in private, I guess. It was just hard to take him – and his desperate attempts to talk about anything but him ripping his quarterback anonymously – seriously.
Remember that Cutler is in Chicago because his relationship with then-Broncos coach Josh McDaniels soured in a hurry when there were reports that McDaniels tried trading for Matt Cassel, and Denver traded him after he asked out. Will Cutler forgive and forget? He’s older and more mature now than he was in those Broncos days, and of all the people who spoke to the media on Friday at Halas Hall, he came off the best.
About Kromer, Cutler said everyone makes mistakes, and understood it. He seemed to respect Kromer for owning up to what he did. He said he wasn’t angry at Kromer and “left that meeting in a better place than we started.”
And with all the blame being deflected lately, Cutler was the one who seemed honest when he discussed his own role in the Bears’ disappointing season and the criticism that has come his way.
“When you’re 5-8 that’s going to happen. Whenever you just got paid a big contract and you’re a quarterback, that’s part of the deal, that’s part of the job,” Cutler said. “To say it doesn’t affect me, I don’t know if that’s true or not. I’m human just like everyone else. I hear about it, but at the end of the day, I’ve got to worry about the Saints, I’ve got to keep trying to help improve this team.”
So now where do the Bears go? They have a quarterback and coach who are under fire and an offensive coordinator who will have a tough time rebuilding his image – and that’s to say nothing about the incredible regression a talented Bears offense has had this year, and Kromer's own role in that.
At this point, forget talking about the Saints game or any other game left. The Bears would be very happy if this hellish season ended right now.
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