Sometimes you just can’t win.
Brian Urlacher was insulted in 2013 when the Bears made him a low contract offer. Matt Forte was bruised this offseason when the Bears didn’t.
Forte was pretty certain the end of his distinguished Chicago Bears career was in sight when he approached the Bears prior to the 2015 season, offering to restructure his contract, a move that would give him some cash and the Bears some cap help vs. an $8 million price tag. The Bears passed on the offer.
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But when they did not make any offer this offseason and opted to put all cards face up with the veteran running back, informing him that they were moving on with his replacements, it was still a blow.
“[I wasn’t] really blindsided, but surprised I didn’t receive an offer from them,” Forte said via conference call with the New York Jets media. “I figure they’d at least offer me something in the mid-to-low range in the free-agent market. For them to tell you they don’t want you back, it’s a hard pill to swallow. That’s been your team the whole time. I got drafted there. But you roll with the punches and move on.”
The Bears, and Forte, were in delicate territory. Brian Urlacher was offended by a low offer from the Bears in 2013, one he termed “an ultimatum.” Would a low-range offer from the Bears have similarly insulted Forte? Forte received “minor interest” from New England and Green Bay, then chose the Jets over the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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Assume that the money was better in New York over the other two, but credit Forte with at least choosing the winningest option available to him. The Jets lost a playoff tiebreaker to the Pittsburgh Steelers with their 10-6 records.
Tampa Bay won six games in 2015, then fired coach Lovie Smith, the man involved in drafting him in Chicago. Dallas won four games.