The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have interviewed Marc Trestman for their offensive coordinator position, according to Ian Rapoport. The former Chicago Bears head coach was spotted in Tampa late last week, and his interviewing is no real surprise.
The Bucs earlier interviewed Falcons coordinator Dirk Koetter and 49ers coordinator Greg Roman, and have been reported to be interested in Rob Chudzinski, Marty Mornhinweg and Brad Childress.
Of those candidates, Marc Trestman is probably my favorite. He has a long history of success in a variety of situations, and a well-earned reputation as an excellent quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. Under his guidance, the Jay Cutler/Josh McCown-led 2013 Bears offense was the sixth-most efficient in the NFL by Football Outsiders standards, and while they took a step back this year, the 14th ranking is still significantly better than what the Bucs put out there.
Despite his recent success, there are certainly concerns with his approach. He wasn't able to help Jay Cutler become someone he was never going to be, and while he has a long history of success, he was out of the NFL between 2004 and 2013, coaching in college and in Montreal during that time.
Trestman comes primarily from the West Coast tree, and is very good at creating easy throws for his quarterbacks and providing structure for them to thrive in. His approach is largely pass-first, with the short passing game functioning as a supplement to the running game, as is the case in many West Coast approaches. Trestman incorporates a lot of wide receiver screens and throws to running backs to give his quarterbacks easy outlets -- Matt Forte was targeted 130 times this year and 95 times last year.
For those scared that this means Trestman will start Josh McCown, keep in mind that Trestman didn't want to keep McCown in Chicago. He helped him succeed, that doesn't mean he wants him as a starter.