Thread: No More 54 per ESPN..

Originally Posted by matsellah

That's what you get out of it. And I can see that.

What I see is him saying they (him and his agent) started out high, the Bears starting out low..

It is a business...

And the Bears never moved off their initial offer.

They didn't negotiate.

That's what I'm seeing. Based on what he says.

Key point right there...based on what HE (lach) says. My previous post explains why i think he isnt being entirely honest here either.

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

1) Right now no team is willing to sign him for the 5mil he wants so it's moot. IF they did I guarantee you he will perform.
2) Chances are his replacement won't perform as well as he will b/c chances are they are not going to get a HoF vet to play MLB for the Bears, it will be an unfair comparison
3) For those w/"inflexible" morals, the team had NO cap to sign him...unless you didn't want to sign a TE and OG that were starter qualityf. The Bears don't have 5mil to spend right now on any player, of the 5 mil the Bears have 3-4) mil have to goto the rookie pool. So how do you make this work? Give me yoru gameplan to resign BU for 2 years at 5mil a year while not hamstringing the team to keep it competitive? Everyone here has talked about how great the MB and JB signings are, so which one do you get rid of and how do replace the glaring hole they filled?

That's an excellent way to put it. And it's not the "Chicago Urlachers" but rather the "Chicago Bears" - a team.
It's never about the individual. Any of you who have played team sports knows this.

I have to chuckle a bit though. About half of us here were having a fit a short time ago when Urlacher dissed us fans (basically said he didn't give a crap for us). Now it's "Saint Brian" and the evil Emery/Trestman.

This too shall pass...

I think this needs to be said, because it's obviously being reflected in the temper of some of posts, is that, while $2M may be in-line with a player of his skill now, it in no way reflects on who he is.

And maybe we're not supposed to be sympathetic to past contribution or career reflection.

Sports Illustrated has a piece that says the average NLF linebacker gets $1.175.

Is Urlacher an average LB? His skills are, but is he? So we're at that point.

Some folks say they don't care about what he was, it's about what he is.

Some don't care about what he's fallen to, he's much more than that and he's still a serviceable player. That needs to be taken into consideration.

Truthfully, I'm with the latter. I could go off on a tangent about society in general, but that won't contribute to the thread. We're at a 'he said-they said' point and, from what is general knowledge, the Bears made an initial offer and never moved off from it. Unless someone else has more information, it looks as if they didn't move a hair. And that's not too classy, if that's the truth. And that, even the lack of a token gesture, I have a problem with.

And last, if anyone thinks keeping Urlacher for another season would prevent The Bears from reaching the Super Bowl...

That's not gonna happen this year, fellas. No matter who is at Mike.

Sewerbear brings up another thing that I don't think people are really willing to consider. Did the Bears want back the leader of the D that was, and to a certain point is, still loyal to the former coach? Isn't this a shot across the bow of every D, or any other player, still loyal to Lovie? If the Bears are willing to shun BU, a future HoF LB and former face of the franchise, what does that say about your position if you don't fall in line w/the new regime?

I said last week that I was unsure they wanted him back for that reason alone, BU was not shy about how he felt about the Lovie firing, and all reports were that hte D was still upset about it. I wonder if any of them will change there toon now, at least in public. This might have been a very decisive and poinent move by Emery and Trestman to start to move on from the Lovie era, starting w/the biggest Lovie supporter.

Matts, he's worth a lot more then 2mil, but the Bears don't have the cap to pay him what he's worth. But let me flip that, has he been paid like an average lb for the last 13 years? Or was he paid well above that? So why not, if he really wanted to retire a Bear do them a favor and take slightly more then average at the 2mil?

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

I think my biggest problem w/the Bears at this point was their inability or unwillingness to restructure deals to get an extra 2-3 mil to sign BU. BU and his agents mistake was asking for way more then the Bears could ever actually offer. Asking for 5.5 mil when the Bears only had 10 w/glaring holes to fill and too few picks to use to fill them made that gamble far to high imo. I said before FA that I didn't think the Bears could afford to resign him...and look at all the players we are letting walk b/c of this. Izzy, Roach, BU, Moore all were let go; then shortly after the start of FA Davis and Spaeth were sent packing. BU's agent was not looking at the big picture and just assumed that the Bears would want to resign him so he could retire a Bear.

It's a sad situation, but this just goes to show how bad the team is set up b/c of the inability to draft. If they draft better over the last 4+ years they don't have to go out and sign BM and Peppers and they are able to have cap enough to sign BU and Izzy and Roach.

All good points. Emery didn't dig the hole we're in. He's the guy trying to help us climb OUT of this hole. I believe it's a deeper hole than most of us fans realize.