Posts tagged Chicago Bears at FanHouse

Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs, who got the franchise designation and wasn't too happy about it, told FOXSports.com's Jay Glazer that he'll never suit up for the Bears again.

"I am now prepared to sit out the year if the Bears don't trade me or release me," Briggs told FOXSports.com via cell phone Monday. "I've played my last snap for them. I'll never play another down for Chicago again."

Lance Briggs is not playing around.

I don't know if it's such a good idea to make a bold proclamation like that. It sort of leaves you nowhere to go. It's usually never a good idea to limit your own options.

Still, I understand his stance. He wants a long-term deal, and the way NFL contracts work, things are slanted very heavily into the favor of organizations. Threatening to not play at all is about the only course of action Lance Briggs has.

And not only that, it might make financial sense for him, too. Yes, he leaves $7.2 million on the table by not playing. But if he decides to play for that $7.2 mil and become a free agent in the off-season ... what happens if he goes that route, and gets hurt this season? Then, he gets his $7.2, and that's it. What if he has a down year, what if the Bears defense as a whole isn't very good? Long-term, there's a chance it could cost Lance Briggs a lot of money to play this year.

Bears coach Lovie Smith has signed a four-year contract extension through the 2011 season, alleviating what was becoming an acrimonious situation between the franchise and the coach who led it to the Super Bowl.

Financial terms weren't disclosed, but ESPN reported that he'll get $22 million over the life of the contract, for an average salary of $5.5 million a year. If true, that means he'll finally be paid like the elite coach that he is, although if it's a four-year extension through 2011, that would seem to indicate that he'll coach the 2007 season under his current contract, meaning he could spend one final year as the league's lowest-paid coach.

The team also extended the contract of general manager Jerry Angelo through the 2013 season. It seems a little odd that they'd give Angelo a longer contract than Smith, although it's common for general managers to have more job security but less money than coaches.

Smith's contract sounds like a fair deal all around. Smith gets the kind of money that makes him set for life no matter what else happens, while the Bears get one of the best coaches in the game for the next five years. It shouldn't have taken so long, and the Bears took something of a PR hit for dragging their feet on this, but Smith should be happy, the team should be happy, and Bears fans should be happy.

Previously at FanHouse:
Is Racism the Reason That the Bears Won't Pay Lovie Smith?
It's Mike McCaskey's Money, and Lovie Smith Can't Have It
Lovie Smith: Changes on Staff, No Change on Contract
How Underpaid Is Bears Coach Lovie Smith? Very Underpaid
Bears Won't Blink, Neither Will Lovie Smith

That's the question posed by Carol Slezak in today's Chicago Sun-Times. Lovie Smith, who was in consecutive years, the NFL's Coach of the Year, and then a Super Bowl participant, has a contract that will pay him less than any other coach in the league this year, and contract negotiations are going nowhere.

I don't know Bears president Ted Phillips, and I don't know Bears general manager Jerry Angelo. I wouldn't know who they were if they knocked on my door right now and asked me if I wanted to come over and watch Amistad. I don't know what hidden perceptions and prejudices they have ... I can't tell you if it's a subtle or not-so-subtle form of racism behind this.

I can tell you, though, that their unbelievable refusal to give Lovie Smith even an average contract makes the question absolutely justified.

As Slezak points out:

• Head coach Dick Juaron, after going 13-3 in 2001 with the Bears, had the last year of his contract torn up and was given a new deal doubling his original salary.

• Lovie Smith will enter the last year of his contract without a new deal, after winning the AP's Coach of the Year award in 2005, going 13-3 and to the Super Bowl in 2006. He is the lowest-paid coach in the NFL.

There's got to be some reason that they won't pay Lovie Smith. It can't be because he hasn't proven himself. Clearly, he has. You could point out that the Bears are notoriously cheap with everyone, but they weren't cheap with Dick Juaron. So what is it? And again, I'll stop short of actually alleging blatant racism here ... but there's enough to evidence to suggest that it isn't out of the question.

Also see:
Chicago Sun-Times / Smith talks make you wonder; Race appears to be factor in contract negotiations

Why do the Bears hate their coaches? ESPN's Chris Mortensen is reporting that contract talks between Lovie Smith and the Chicago Bears are going nowhere. Said Frank Bauer, Smith's agent:

"We're not close, we're not encouraged, and based on where talks have gone recently, Lovie will be a free agent after next season.

"It would take an unforseen breakthrough for this to get done. And we are being more than reasonable in this market."

What the hell, Bears? What does a coach have to do get paid in that organization? Lovie Smith could win the Super Bowl, trim the Bears salary cap number down to seventeen dollars and forty-five cents, personally impregnate the biggest and strongest women in the world to breed a new generation of genetically-superior Chicago Bears, melt down every bronze bust that's in the Hall of Fame that is not of a Chicago Bear, and then sculpt the molten bronze into a giant statue of Mike Ditka putting out the Chicago fire with his super-human stream of majestic urine, and place that statue in front of the new Soldier Field, which he built by himself, with his own bare hands, brick by brick ... and Lovie Smith still wouldn't get paid.

I'm really curious ... to whom to the Bears attribute last year's Super Bowl season? It wasn't Ron Rivera, because they let him walk. It wasn't Lovie Smith, because they won't pay him. It certainly can't be Rex Grossman, because he's Rex Grossman. Did Urlacher get there by himself?

Either the Bears attribute their recent success to someone or something that we don't know about, or they're just extremely cheap. Cheap seems more likely.

And I don't say that as if it's something I'm happy about. Matt Ballard, the Bears fan responsible for this piece of performance art (hear an interview with him here), has struck again. This, time, his poem isn't about the Bears, but rather, a congratulatory effort for the Colts.



Just outstanding. How lucky those Colts are to be able to have this as a lasting memory of their acheivement. You look at Peyton Manning, and he's got a Lombardi Trophy now, a Super Bowl ring, a brand new Cadillac, and the respect of all his peers ... and now he also has a poem written and recited by a guy on some kind of miniature tractor thing. Some guys have it all.

Ron Rivera needs a new agent. He went from Super Bowl defensive coordinator and one of the hottest head-coaching candidates in the league to Chargers linebacker coach. Isn't he supposed to be moving upwards?

This is like you walking into your office tomorrow and having the boss tell you, "Hey, great work on that Stewart account, you saved the company millions. So we'll be firing you now, and you can go work in the mailroom somewhere else. Sound good?"

Anyway, it's a nice little silver lining for the Chargers. On the same day that they hired Norv Turner (which is certainly a black day in franchise history), they add Ron Rivera as linebacker coach. The Chargers hired three coaches today, Ron Rivera, Ted Cottrell, and Norv Turner ... and the best of them is probably the one with the worst rank.

Things have to be a little awkward for Ted Cottrell now, don't they? Imagine what that first meeting with Rivera will be like at the company water cooler.

Rivera: Hey, Ted, it's nice to be working under you. What have you been up to?
Cottrell: Actually, I was out of football last year.
Rivera: You don't say? I was defensive coordinator of a Super Bowl team.
Cottrell: (looks down) Uh huh.
Rivera: So, you say you're my boss?
Cottrell: (still looking at the floor) Yeah.
Rivera: That's just terrific (Rivera crumples his paper water cup and throws it at Cottrell's feet). Just terrific.

Bears linebacker Lance Briggs was also the recipient of the "franchise tag" today. Briggs was set to be one of the hottest commodities out there on the free agent market, but now, if some team does sign Briggs away from the Bears, the Bears are entitled to two first-round picks as compensation.

Briggs' base salary for 2006 was $725,000. If he accepts the tender, it'll go up this year to $7.2 million. That's a pretty decent little pay raise, so I'm unlikely to be shedding any tears for him. He'd get a sweet long-term deal on the open market, and he still could, though the draft-pick compensation will give teams pause.

Not that I blame the Bears at all. Briggs is a two-time Pro Bowler, and a key to their Cover-2 defense. He's one of the keys to the defense, surpassed in importance perhaps only by Brian Urlacher.

I think that's a pretty reasonable possibility. You look at the list of free agent quarterbacks out there, and it's less than inspiring. There are very few, if any, of these guys, that I would consider a clear upgrade to Rex Grossman.

Unrestricted: Jeff Garcia, Kerry Collins, Anthony Wright, Tim Rattay, Marques Tuiasosopo, Todd Bouman, Damon Huard, and Koy Detmer.

Restricted: Matt Schaub, Jim Sorgi, Cleo Lemon, Brian St. Pierre, John Navarre.

I just went over my reservations about Jeff Garcia. Damon Huard is an intriguing option, though there will be plenty of competition for him, and some team will probably pay him more than the Bears will want to. Matt Shaub is a restricted free agent, and would likely cost the Bears at least a couple of draft picks if the Falcons decide to let him go, which they probably won't.

Any of those other names grab you? Anyone picturing Marques Tuiasosopo driving off in a new Cadillac after being named the MVP of Super Bowl XLII?

Unless they swing some huge trade, I honestly believe Rex Grossman will be the Bears best option at quarterback next year. This is a guy who had 8 games last year with a passer rating over 98. Whatever mental block he has, whatever fear or insecurity or lack of confidence is responsible the other 8 games a year ... the best chance the Bears have at improving their quarterback play is to find a way to foster more consistency in Rex Grossman.

As the Super Bowl afterglow dims, and we move towards the off-season, it seems like a lot of teams out there have their eye on Jeff Garcia ... the Vikings, the Bears, the Buccaneers ... there's even a small minority of Eagles fans that want him to start next year.

And that's to be expected ... tt's an extremely thin free agent crop at the quarterback position, and Garcia was impressive with the Eagles in the season's second half. I'd be reeeally careful about giving him any kind of significant financial deal, though.

I think teams would be wise to keep three things in mind. 1) That Andy Reid knew exactly what Garcia's strengths and weaknesses were, and he knew that he had a system tailored perfectly to fit Garcia, 2) Garcia's 2004 season with the Browns, and 3) his 2005 season with the Lions.

Both the Browns and the Lions were thinking along the same lines as Garcia's potential suitors this off-season ... "we'll just bring him in to be a steady veteran presence until we can develop a younger guy." He was mediocre with the Browns and terrible with the Lions, both teams cut him after one year, and neither developed another decent quarterback in the meantime.

It's nothing against Jeff Garcia ... I'm not trying to tell you that he's a terrible quarterback. In a certain system, obviously, he can be effective, but teams should be very careful about what they ask Garcia to do. I tend to believe that backing up Donovan McNabb is the best place for Garcia, and it might be best if other teams leave him there. Ending up with the 2004 or 2005 version of Garcia is no prize.

For the sake of our space exploration program, the Chicago Bears are just going to have to stop getting to the Super Bowl. If you're the sort that believes in sports jinxes, I think this one is the strangest of all time ... every time the Bears make the Super Bowl, something catastrophic happens to NASA.

On January 26, 1986, the Chicago Bears played in Super Bowl XX. Two days later, the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up over Florida, taking the lives of the 7 astronauts on board.

On February 4, 2007, the Chicago Bears played in Super Bowl XLI. Two days later, NASA has this insane love triangle involving two astronauts, stalking, a kidnapping plot, and an attempted murder charge.

Nice job, Bears. Why not just skip the middle man, save everyone some time, and send Rex Grossman to NASA headquarters with an AK-47?

I think this merits some kind of a government investigation. Maybe W. has to step in and sign some executive orders to ensure that the Bears never get back to the Super Bowl ... for example, naming Art Shell their permanent head coach, putting Kyle Orton in charge of all pre-game nutrition, jailing Brian Urlacher on terrorism charges, and signing Rex Grossman to an 11-year, $245 million deal.

And naturally, no discussion of astronauts is complete without this: