Ray McDonald's chance with the Bears didn't even see him take the field in a uniform.
Hours after a report surfaced that McDonald was arrested Monday morning, a report later confirmed by the San Clara Police Department, the Bears announced that McDonald had been released.
“We believe in second chances, but when we signed Ray we were very clear what our expectations were if he was to remain a Bear,” Bears general manager Ryan Pace said in the team's announcement, sent out Monday afternoon. “He was not able to meet the standard, and the decision was made to release him.”
McDonald was arrested early Monday morning on charges of misdemeanor domestic assault and child endangerment. According to the arrest report, McDonald physically assaulted a woman while she was holding a baby.
The Bears' offseason signing of McDonald gained plenty of headlines as the team brought him aboard despite his recent string of legal troubles. In August, he was arrested for domestic violence, though he was never formally charged. In December, he was named a suspect in a sexual assault investigation, though he hasn't been charged in that investigation, either. However, it was enough for the San Francisco 49ers to cut ties with McDonald.
When the Bears front office suggested signing McDonald, chairman George McCaskey's first instinct was to say no, though after sitting with McDonald and talking with him, McCaskey gave the OK to Pace.
McCaskey had this to say back in March:
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“Ray and I talked about this. I told him that my assessment was 'bad decision-making,' allowing himself to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or not withdrawing from a situation at the appropriate time.
“And I told him, if he's to remain a Bear, that needs to improve. And he pledged to me that it would.”