Bye Bye Briggs (Redux)

I won't lose any sleep over the departure of Lance Briggs. He was a great individual player, but benefited from playing next to one of the all-time greats in Brian Urlacher. He was fast, nimble, and a sure tackler, but also pretty selfish. And that's not new: http://fledglingtimes.blogspot.com/2007/03/bye-bye-lbriggs.html
In a nutshell, he was a rookie phenom and held his own next to Urlacher in what was probably the best linebacker tandem in the NFL for quite a while. He existed in a system that was focused on the defense, so aside from Ulacher, he also had pro bowl-quality support on the line and in the secondary. His play spoke for him, which became an issue when Urlacher retired and the coaching staff he had been with for many years was ousted.

As a fan, I expected him to be the de facto leader and take the reigns in the locker room. Even if his play or ability to stay healthy was diminished, he could still lead. Turns out he had no interest in that. He had enough interest in starting a restaurant in California that he missed time with his team to attend the opening. This is not new for him; in 2007, he announced that he would not play another snap for the Chicago Bears because he didn't like the offer they gave him on a new contract. He demanded to be traded. The illusion of any kind of allegiance to the Bears or their fans was out the window way back then. (For reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Briggs)

In the meantime, his agent couldn't find him a better deal anywhere else (surprise, surprise) so he came back to the table more amenable to nearly the same offer he got the previous year. So, $33 million over 7 years, if I recall correctly. Nothing to sneeze at, but I think his ingratitude toward the Bears was not only ill-conceived, but also helped to cement a reputation that the organization was cheap and didn't value its players. In the case of Lance, I side with the organization. He was good, but Urlacher was the great one.

A quick aside: don't forget that the first thing Lance did when he finally got the big contract was to buy a Lamborghini and wrap it around a telephone pole, leave the scene of the accident, then call police and make up a story about his new car being stolen. What a colossal waste of money and resources. Read this article to see the kind of sway the Chicago Bears had over city infrastructure, too: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/bears/2007-08-27-briggs-car_N.htm

In 2011, he asked to be traded again, and again was offered an extension. That runs out at the end of this season, and on top of all the other negativity this year has brought, if management re-signs him or extends him again, it better only be ceremonial (so he can retire as a Bear) or fans will respond.

All told, I'm glad Briggs was a Bear. I wish he would have been more of a team guy and a leader - especially once Urlacher left the building. The Bears are the oldest team in the league right now and it's time to start correcting that stat. My hope is that they draft more players like Urlacher and less like Briggs.