jersey cubs fan

They are completely unwarrented and unjustified. The Bears drafted Matt Forte and signed him to a rookie contract. They have also signed free agents to help carry the load in part so that Forte wouldn't be running the ball 300 times a year. They would be negligent if they didn't bring in free agents. The Bears are in the middle of an offseason where they are trying to significantly add to the offense. They are in the middle of free agency season and guys are coming off the board everyday. What Forte seems to be suggesting is that the Bears shouldn't address needs and shouldn't sign free agents until they come to an agreement on his contract first. They should put their pursuits of free agents on hold because he is more important. They should agree to his demands today, four months before the deadline to sign him to an extension, rather than try and improve the team.

No they aren't. People are coming down on him for being a little bitch and pretending the Bears haven't tried to sign him to an extension that guarantees him a heck of a lot of money. It's not about disrespect, taking advantage or unfairness. It's about money. The Bears offered a lot of money and he wanted more. It's not like the Bears have never expressed interest in paying anything but the franchise number for one year.

It's the neverending story

What is stupid?

His agent regurgitated the same spiel though. He also toned down his tweet but then basically reiterated the same feelings. Matt has been trying to negotiate through the media and with the fans this whole time. He's seen those stupid "pay him" signs at the stadium and he's read (plus probably planted) all those "pay him" columns in the papers. Twitter or not twitter we would know where Forte stands because his entire stance has been to try and play up the "Bears are mistreating him" storyline. He has no other leg to stand on in negotiations.

that's not very nice of your wife to be taunting you like that

While they may "have room" that doesn't mean anything with regards to how they can be expected to perform this year. You are making a heck of a lot of assumptions about the defense that I do not think is justified. They don't even have a real/healthy 3B on the roster.

If they can hover near the .500 range for the most part they will be challenging for a playoff spot.

So do I. Must be booze left in the system from last night.

what qualifies somebody as a player? Is it anybody on a 40-man? Anybody in an organization? Do you have to have played in the majors?

They don't have schools in packer land do they? The moral outrage is unjustified.

The argument that running backs "age" quicker than most other positions is suspicious? How?

The Bears have been known to pay their own to stay, and pay them well. They've made their offers and have done everything they should have done with regards to Forte. The fact that he wants top dollar is the holdup, and the Bears would be completely idiotic to offer him top dollar.

Forte has done a ton for this team, yet every single offseason the Bears have brought in a FA RB and paid him more money. Bringing in Kevin Jones when Forte was a rookie was a non-issue. Paying a bunch of money to Chester Taylor was understandable after Forte came off a down year after 2 years of a lot of touches. Bringing in Marion Barber to do short-yardage was a little slap in the face, but something Forte could overlook. Now they brought in a 4th RB in 4 years. Bush is guaranteed 7 Mil. Forte is only guaranteed 7.7Mil. Sure it's a lot of money, but this is the NFL. Forte blows out his knee this year, it's likely he'll never seen 7.7Mil the rest of his career. Disrespectful is too strong of a word that gets thrown out too much by athletes, but it is a slap in the face when your team keeps paying guys off the street more money than you are making at your same position. Complete nonsense. He signed his rookie free agent and these are the rules collectively bargained for. If he was a street free agent he would get a market rate contract, but he is not a street free agent. Those guys were free to sign with anybody and the Bears were the ones that signed them. Forte has been treated perfectly fine by this franchise. They ofference a crap ton of money and he wanted more so he didn't accept all of that money. That's on him.

Even if he was perfectly healthy all season I can't agree that signing a backup RB, which Michael Bush clearly is, suggests disregard for Forte. You need depth at the position.

How are the Bears handling this terribly? My bet is they will sign him to an extension. Forte has very little ground to stand on. He's made about $3.5m in his career and would be a fool to hold out instead of accepting the $7.7m franchise number.

I love the idea of signing a backup RB being "disrespectful".

The problem is it is a 5 man group. Yes, they spent a 1st on it last year, but the previous 1st was four years ago now. It's not like they've drafted it in 2 consecutive years. Prior to him, they didn't spend a meaningful pick on the group for 6 years. Garza is on the precipice of being out of the league. Both tackle positions remain a question and one guard spot is a joke. Spending 2 1sts in 4 years (or 2 1st in 10) doesn't mean you are settled. The line requires constant addition. By the time you get 2 spots settled you will have 2 spots on the decline or in disarray. If they treat the line no the way Angelo treated it in the mid-2000s, all progress will be lost. They were operating from behind when they got Williams and Carimi and still have a lot of catching up to do. They need a free agent and a first half of the draft pick this year, then they will need another top pick in 2013.

Yeah, I don't think it was obvious. The goal was announced right after the game as being scored by Oduya, and then they went right into the three stars. That's got to be the reason. As I said and continue to believe, he played a really [expletive] game last night. I thought Crawford should have been recognized too. The entire team was swarming Shaw, and they made the announcement as the players were leaving from behind the net. By that time, the announcers knew and the people watching at home (at least me) realized the puck went in off of Shaw. Then they made the 3 stars announcement. I just thought it was so odd to name him specifically for that goal when we already knew he didn't score the goal and wouldn't get credit for it.

was anybody else a little curious why Oduya was given the 3rd star and Kane the 2nd, and no Crawford? Oduya didn't even score that goal and it was obvious in time for the announcement. And Crawford was probably the biggest reason they even had a chance to win.

I don't remember Kevin Jones contract sitution. But Taylor got a ridiculous amount for a backup RB at his stage of his career and this is a lot of money as well. Barber didn't get a hell of a lot, but it was fairly substantial.

As somebody who didn't want the Bears to sign Forte to a stupid deal, I'm sort of happy about this. But it's a shot across the Forte camp's bow. As a secondary RB he is an upgrade. So that's nice. That probably came off far more sarcastic than I meant. I don't follow non-Bears football nearly as closely than I do non-Cubs baseball. More of just being unsure as to if this was a good signing. Judging by the feedback on here, it should be a fun offensive season. He's been a nice complementary back in his career. Not too much mileage on his legs, but he did slow down this past year when he received more playing time. He's not going to make that much difference to the offense though.

might it be a bigger sign that defense will be focus of draft?

That is debatable. I think he may have been better if he was handled better. But ultimately he had some fatal flaws. Either way, that doesn't have a damn thing to do with a young kid being blocked. If anything he was rushed to the majors too soon. And he was given a lot of playing time. He had a couple thousand plate appearances for the Cubs and was an everyday starter by the age of 22. Orie is a could have been, but he was really a part of the pre-Hendry era. Jim was in the lower rungs at the time. And realistically even if his career turned out much better you are probably talking about a guy who just held a spot for 4-5 years before being replaced. He wasn't a stud in the waiting.

As somebody who didn't want the Bears to sign Forte to a stupid deal, I'm sort of happy about this. But it's a shot across the Forte camp's bow. As a secondary RB he is an upgrade. So that's nice.