By Tim Graham
Not a judgment, just an observation:
I find it amazing -- in a so-called copycat league that recycles people and ideas -- that one NFL club can deem a man worthy to be its head coach and another doesn't interview the same man during two coaching searches over the span of four years.
The Chicago Bears this week chose Marc Trestman to be their head coach. The Buffalo Bills didn't interview him for either of their recent vacancies.
Trestman is an unusual hire, having spent the past five years as head coach of the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League. But he's considered a brilliant mind, won two Grey Cups and was an NFL offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach for 18 years.
Another former Alouettes coach declared Trestman would be a great choice for the Bears.
"I think he'd be superb, to tell you the truth," Bills Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy told Montreal Gazette reporter Herb Zurkowsky right before Trestman was hired. "I think he'd be a great pick.
"I hope Marc gets the job. I really think he would be good for the Bears. I would love to see him get it."
Levy added: “He's very well respected and has a good offensive mind."
Levy also coached the Alouettes for five years and won two Grey Cups before getting his first NFL head-coaching gig, with the Kansas City Chiefs at the age of 57. Trestman turned 57 this week.
Levy is a Chicago native who grew up a Bears fan when George Halas still was their coach.
"Unless a coach in the CFL has had previous NFL experience, almost without question as an assistant and built a good reputation in that time, I don't think there's a tendency to look up there," Levy said.
