It took Marc Trestman nearly 30 years to become a head coach in the NFL. The St. Louis Park-native now gets ready to lead his Chicago Bears against the Minnesota Vikings.
Trestman was an NFL assistant for 17 seasons with eight different teams. But last January at the age of 57 Trestman finally was given the opportunity to be an NFL head coach. That opportunity came nine years after Trestman’s last NFL job according to the Star Tribune.
But a five year stint as a head coach in the Canadian Football League helped to enhance the former Gopher quarterback’s reputation. As an assistant, Trestman, is known for the way he handles quarterbacks, and that is what got the Bears interested.
It is also one of the reasons Trestman was interested in the Bears, the opportunity to work with the mercurial Jay Cutler.
Sunday Trestman and the Bears are the favorite at home against the Vikings. Where his team has won 11 of the last 12 meetings between the two teams.
In fact, according to Fox Sports Net the Bears have forced 31 turnovers in those 12 games and have won the last three games by more than 20 points.
The Bears led the NFL by forcing 44 takeaways last season, and that could be a problem for the Vikings who turned it over four times at Detroit last week.
Kickoff is at noon Sunday.
