How Tim Tebow could end up as a Chicago Bear

Could Tim Tebow end up in Chicago with new Bears coach Marc Trestman?

Trestman was part of the phalanx of tutors who worked with Tebow in advance of the 2010 NFL draft, notable for Tebow's elevation from a third-round pick in the estimation of draftniks like ESPN's Todd McShay to a first-round pick by the Denver Broncos.

As the speculation over where Tebow might end up next season pinballs from Jacksonville (near his hometown) — though the Jaguars are now quashing that notion — to Arizona (where he is spending the week training) to any number of copycat teams that will likely try to adapt some of the zone-read principles that fueled the success of the Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks in 2012 (and the Broncos with Tebow in 2011), it isn't unreasonable to add Chicago to the mix, given Tebow's history with the new head coach.

Go back to May 2010, a month after Tebow was drafted. In Canada's National Post, Trestman compared Tebow to Trestman's staggeringly effective quarterback for the Montreal Alouettes, Anthony Calvillo:

"We have a quarterback who has a long delivery and he's one of the greatest quarterbacks and will finish as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time north or south of the border, so he does it with a motion very similar to what Tim Tebow used in college.

"When you're an accurate passer and you have the intangibles that go along with that, you can figure it out and make it work and, whether Tim changed his motion or not, I believed he would figure it out and I don't have any doubt that he'll be very, very successful."

It is worth noting – the Bears certainly did – that Trestman also tutored incumbent Bears starting quarterback Jay Cutler before the 2006 draft. But given the uncertainty that any team is willing to offer Tebow a shot at a starting role, Tebow might feel comfortable being a backup on a team where he is familiar with the head coach – and for a team whose coach once very publicly touted Tebow's NFL potential as a quarterback.

Pressing NFL coaches about their interest in Tebow has become standard practice this offseason. Given Trestman's personal connection to Tebow, one thing is a near certainty: When Trestman meets the Chicago media, he will be asked almost immediately about his interest in Tebow, and the Bears-obsessed Chicago media (and Tebow-obsessed national media) will parse his answer down to the syllable, trying to figure out if we might see the "Te-bears."