Trouble in the Bear den

Only a Chicago sports team. No other city could have one of its teams ruin the best month of the year by doing something completely idiotic. Usually at this time it’s a Cubs pitcher who kills my basketball buzz by blowing out a shoulder or elbow. But I’m used to that now, so not even a situation like that could faze me this season (Unless it would be Zambrano). But out of nowhere, the Bears have stolen all the headlines, and not surprisingly, it’s for all the wrong reasons.

News broke this morning that linebacker Lance Briggs, who the Bears slapped the Franchise tag on last week, was very upset at the organization and was demanding to be either a free agent or to be traded. Now I can’t really blame Briggs for wanting this. He’s been a great player for the last few seasons, making the Pro Bowl in both 2006 and ’07. He is in the prime of his career at peak value, coming off a Super Bowl where it seemed as though he was the only Bears defensive player to show up. He has seen other players at his position, like new Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas, get big contracts this off-season. (Thomas got between $15-20 million over four years from New England) So why on Earth would he be happy with the Bears locking him up for one more year, for the average of the top five outside linebackers in the league ($7.2 million for one year, which isn’t so bad if you ask me) when he could be on the open market, getting a big time, long term deal?

Then this afternoon, while I am watching ESPN, I see a news flash that the Bears have traded running back Thomas Jones to the Jets. While this piece of info definitely alarmed me, I couldn’t say I was too shocked. I knew that T.J. wanted to be dealt and that the Bears wanted to hand the running back reigns over to former first round pick Cederic Benson. I figured the Jets were a good partner to trade with, since they have a good crop of young players and there not in the NFC, meaning Jones won’t have to face his former squad. Thomas Jones for the Jets first round pick seemed like a good deal with me. The Bears would have two picks at the end of the first round in a draft that’s considered pretty deep. They would be able to address the depth in on the offensive or defensive lines, or even, if they were smart, they could get a linebacker and then deal Briggs for something good.

But of course that’s not what the Bears did. They got the Jets second round pick. (Actually Washington’s second round pick that New York had, which is 37th overall.) Add to that, the Bears gave up their second round pick. (63rd overall) So in order to move up 26 frickin’ spots in the SECOND ROUND, the Bears gave up a back that has run for 2545 yards and 15 touchdowns over the past two seasons and was the only consistent offensive player for the team during its Super Bowl run only two months ago.

Add to this that the teams defensive coordinator, Ron Riviera, left to become the linebackers coach for the San Diego Chargers, the teams quarterback, Rex Grossman, is still public enemy number one in this city and many fans are still upset with how the Bears played in the Super Bowl. Now the team has pissed off one of their key defensive players and traded away the only consistent offensive player they had in order to jump halfway up the second round. Hey, at least they re-signed Lovie Smith.