The Bruce Arians Bears beef is real, folks. It’s no secret by this point. Everybody knows the story. Former GM Phil Emery had narrowed his choices for new head coach in 2013 down to two names: Arians and Marc Trestman. Many people, including Arians himself, thought he’d get the job. He was reigning Coach of the Year after all and a proven NFL staple.
Emery then did what he became famous for. He overthought the situation and went with the wild card Trestman. It of course was a disaster and ended up getting himself fired just two years later. Arians meanwhile got scooped up by the Arizona Cardinals. There he led them to the playoffs twice including an NFC championship in 2015.
Fittingly it was in 2015 that Arians met the Bears for the first time in the regular season. It was week two and Chicago was looking for its first win. What people didn’t know at the time was the old coach had zero intention of letting that happen. Not only that, but there were also plans for rubbing it in as well.
Bruce Arians Bears hatred was real after job snub
Don’t forget that most football coaches used to be players too. They have egos and don’t like being passed over for somebody perceived to be “better” than them. That’s pretty much what the Bears did when they chose Trestman. So Arians tried to make them pay in that game. Suffice to say he succeeded. Arizona dominated to a 48-23 victory.
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What nobody knew at the time was Arians was intentionally trying to run up the score. Early in the third quarter the Cardinals had a comfortable 35-20 advantage and the Bears had lost Jay Cutler to injury. So did they content themselves to run down the clock? Nope. Even late in the fourth quarter they were still throwing the ball.
Since then Arians was cordial in his mentions of Chicago. That is until a couple weeks ago. Appearing on the podcast of former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee, he was asked point blank whether he tried to run up the score. Arians didn’t even hesitate with his reply.
“McAfee: “When you played against the Chicago Bears the first time (in 2015), after them not giving you the job … did you attempt to bury them?”
Arians: “Yes.”
McAfee: “OK, now when we went out to play against you (in 2013), it was the fourth quarter, you guys were up by I think 17 at that point and you were still throwing the ball deep, were you attempting to bury us?”
Arians: “No, because I knew you had Andrew on your side. I didn’t feel good 21 ahead.”
So not only did he openly admit to trying to crush the Bears, he even delivered a backhanded shot at the entire offense in the process. That is ice cold, Bruce. Nobody can blame him of course. He felt the Bears disrespected him and wanted to make them pay. He did. Hopefully Chicago learned their lesson well.
