Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte admitted Friday he's been backed into a corner, with no option but to suit up for the season. "I don't think I really have a choice, do I?" Forte told ESPNChicago.com. "Yeah, I'll be here." "Here" doesn't mean the start of training camp, necessarily, but any hints of a nasty holdout are on the back burner. Forte will earn $7.749 million this season if he signs his franchise tender. He has until July 16 to work out a long-term deal with the team, but the Bears appear unmotivated to pull the trigger on a new contract. "It's going to be a fun season," Forte said. "I'm excited to get in there and talk to (quarterbacks coach Jeremy) Bates and get in there with Jay (Cutler) and see what he thinks about the passing game, and see how I can get involved in that, too." This is good news for Bears fans, they might sympathize with Forte's struggle for respect, but nobody will mourn the end of this contract dispute. Source: NFL.com
Of course he'll play... The issue is having a distracted RB who feels disrespected in the huddle play in /out. Just not good business when paired with all the rhetoric/lip service the Bear Brass spewed.
He earned a long term deal, he played out his rookie deal with minimal complaining and got hurt playing for a new deal. To quote Teddy KGB, "pay him, pay that man his money."
He has a choice, he just doesn't want to run the risk of losing money. Silly part is he is risking much more guaranteed money by doing this. He better hope he doesn't heck something up. The Bears would fold in this holdout before he would.
I don't see it being an issue if the Bears get off to a strong start and are contenders. But if the season goes south, things like this tend to become more glaring issues.
Yea, success tends to hide the issues but with that OL, we're primed for yet another merry-go-round cluster heck.
The main thing with this OL is avoiding injuries. I felt like these guys had started to play at a reasonable level before the injury bug started biting...first Carimi, then Williams...I mean it isn't a great OL by any means but the 1st string can be decent enough. We just have zero depth.
'fraid I wasn't so optimistic, 54 Sure, there was a play here or there or even a series but at no time did I get a cohesive feel from any combination out there. Yea, then injuries made matters worst but that line is just cobbled together from spare parts. Carimi has yet to show much due to not being on the field, Williams is back to another go-round at LT & as close to a career backup as you can get, Spencer's being force fed Center (cuz we planned ahead so well for Olin's departure), Garza's still reasonably solid at Guard but a looong in the tooth vet, & Lance is 'hopefully' going to become something at Guard...someday from what I hear. As usual, pretty poor planning at Halas Hall but I'm sure not too shabby from the accounting dept POV. Here's some #s to read & weep about from last year: 2011 OFFENSIVE LINES & the many years before that. :icon_rolleyes: & yes, after that....0 depth.
