A pair of accomplished and respected Chicago Bears players told ESPNChicago.com on Wednesday night that a portion of the locker room feels "confused and uncomfortable" over how Marc Trestman handled Jay Cutler's benching compared to the minor discipline offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer received last week.
On a performance level, neither player objected to Cutler losing his starting job to Jimmy Clausen for Week 16.
The general belief is the respective punishments for Cutler and Kromer are gravely inconsistent, after the Bears' offensive coordinator received "basically a slap on the wrist" for his very public indiscretions when he tearfully revealed in a team meeting on Dec. 8 that he was the anonymous source cited in a published NFL Media report highly critical of the quarterback.
This further magnifies the distrust between Trestman and the locker room, an on-going issue during much of the Bears' disappointing 5-9 season, according to the players.