This Chargers Assistant Coach Hire Will Be A Disaster

We loved so many of new Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh's coaching hires.

And then came Marc Trestman.

The ill-fated one-time Chicago Bears head coach had heretofore been in NFL exile for seven years, after he was unceremoniously booted from his perch following a 13-19 stretch over two seasons with the Monsters of the Midway, and then tried to recover with a subsequent brief as the offensive coordinator stint for -- you guessed it -- the team led by Jim Harbaugh's brother John, the Baltimore Ravens, in 2015-16.

Trestman's biggest coaching success has happened far beyond the purview of the NFL gridiron. He's won three Grey Cup championship titles in the Canadian Football League, in 2009-10 and '17, while coaching the Montreal Alouettes and, post-NFL, the Toronto Argonauts.

During his Chicago tenure, Trestman defiantly defended his CFL accolades (just two Grey Cup championships at the time) as proof positive of his readiness to lead at the American level. It was anything but. He oftentimes seemed woefully underprepared for his opponents, that miserable 5-11 2014 season, when Chicago lost by over 50 points two games in a row (which included a bye week sandwiched in between, theoretically giving Trestman plenty of prep time)!

Hilariously, then-Bears general manager Phil Emery (he was fired as soon as Trestman was) selected Trestman over the man who would be crowned NFL Coach of the Year a few weeks later, then-Indianapolis Colts interim head coach Bruce Arians. Arians would go on to win a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021. Trestman wasn't even coaching at that point in time. As recently as a few months ago, he was writing sycophantic rave reviews of Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert for The 33rd Team.

Emery had touted Trestman as an offensively-inclined whiz, and hoped that he would help focus talented-but-aloof Bears quarterback Jay Cutler's rocket arm with savvier decision-making. He did not, and instead was actively benching a healthy Cutler, now the team's all-time passing leader, at the end of Trestman's second (and final) year in the Windy City, during the fall of 2014.

"I think this is in the best interest of the team," Trestman said at the time, per Rich Campbell of The Chicago Tribune. "I think we need a lift at quarterback. I think we need a spark.”

Trestman's official title with the Bolts is the fairly loose designation "senior offensive assistant." It seems like a fairly harmless nepotism hire, and one which shouldn't have much bearing on how the Chargers staff comports itself in 2024. It's also probably a waste of money, as Trestman has never shown much aptitude at the NFL level. Let's just hope he isn't trying to shirk his pregame prep responsibilities or convince Harbaugh to bench Herbert for Max Duggan by Week 12.