Marc Trestman: ‘We didn’t take this as torture’

Bears coach Marc Trestman said the Bears embraced their bye week as a chance to improve their reeling team before tonight’s rivalry game against the Packers.

“We didn’t take this as torture — we embraced it,” he said in an exclusive interview airing tonight on “Football Night in America.” “We went back to work a couple days after the bye, spent some time trying to find things we could do to help our players get better, and reevaluated what we were doing.”

Trestman called quarterback Jay Cutler “an extremely bright guy with great football intelligence,” but who needs to improve.

“He works extremely hard at his craft and is looking to move up and play better. He needs to do a better job at protecting the football, and he’s certainly taken accountability for that.”

Sunday’s rivalry has a unique place in the league, said the Minnesota native.

“Growing up in the Midwest, watching this rivalry my whole life, I understand it’s really about the NFL,” he said. “It’s about the traditions of the NFL, and anybody who loves the league has got to love this matchup, because it’s part of the history of the league.”