The talking point the Bears keep circling back to this offseason is that their goal is to build a team for sustainable success.
It's what team President Ted Phillips outlined in a Feb. 8 letter explaining a price increase for the vast majority of tickets at Soldier Field. It's what general manager Ryan Pace said more recently at the beginning of a video message directed to those who have paid for season ticket renewals.
That's where the Bears have to start when the only thing they've sustained for the past decade is large-scale mediocrity. Naturally, there's some cynicism associated with this offseason, and that's the result of winning nine games over the previous two seasons. That doesn't exactly push the benefit of the doubt across the goal line for anyone not drinking from pitchers of navy-and-orange Kool-Aid.
The Bears have signed 17 players since the opening of free agency March 9 to bring the 90-man roster to 78, where it sits with the NFL's annual spring meetings opening Sunday.
Eleven of the signings come from other teams and six players were re-signed. The 17 players were guaranteed a total of $57.305 million with quarterback Mike Glennon accounting for nearly one-third with $18.5 million.
Four players received three-year contracts, one got a two-year deal, and the remaining 12 are on one-year deals. Just judging by the length of the contracts, it's hard to think sustainable success when the majority are prove-it deals or minimum-salary-benefit contracts.
Everyone knows the Bears haven't drafted with any consistency in forever. There isn't a player remaining on the roster drafted before 2013. Right guard Kyle Long is the only remaining player from the 2013 class. By the time Week 1 rolls around, it's possible punter Pat O'Donnell and left tackle Charles Leno will be all that remain from 2014. Yes, that means cornerback Kyle Fuller, defensive linemen Ego Ferguson and Will Sutton and running back Ka'Deem Carey are in jeopardy.
Sustainability hasn't been something the Bears have discovered in free agency either, and it hasn't been for a lack of effort. Since the team's appearance in Super Bowl XLI, only two players signed as veteran free agents have spent more than three seasons in Chicago. Cornerback Tim Jennings (five seasons) and defensive end Julius Peppers (four seasons) were both signed in 2010, solid additions that helped the team to the NFC title game at the end of that season. A third player could join that list this season if outside linebacker Lamarr Houston, the headliner of the team's 2014 free-agent class, is with the team Week 1. Multiple ACL tears have limited him to 26 games in three seasons. He turns 30 in June and has a base salary of $5.95 million, perhaps more than even a team flush with cap space can justify.
Think back on all of the free agents the Bears have added in the last decade, all the dollars spent, and then process that into part of the explanation for the team's struggles. That's not meant to excuse what, on paper anyway, looks like another ordinary group of free agents this year. You can't say the Bears aren't hoping to upgrade on some of Prince Amukamara, Quintin Demps, Marcus Cooper and Markus Wheaton via the draft.
Through a similar time frame last year, the Bears had signed 19 players with eight of them being new to the team. Among the newcomers, linebacker Danny Trevathan got a four-year deal and linebacker Jerrell Freeman and Bobby Massie got three-year contracts. The five-year contract Pace has done in free agency was for outside linebacker Pernell McPhee in 2015, and he's entering Year 3 but has obvious clear durability issues. It's fair to wonder if any of these players will be part of the team when it does turn the corner.
There was plenty of social media outcry over the addition of backup quarterback Mark Sanchez to a one-year, $2 million contract with half of it guaranteed, but there are more relevant ways to criticize the organization. What matters is how Glennon performs. If the team is right on its hunch that he has arrived at the right time with his career just waiting to take off, the Bears could turn the corner soon. What matters is correctly identifying a young quarterback in the draft and adding him to the fold because until everyone knows the quarterback riddle has been solved, it's the team's foremost need.
The teams that have sustained success, and there aren't many, have a few things in common. The most recurring theme is a quarterback. Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger are the best examples of excellence over a long stretch.
If the Bears are going to put actions behind their words when it comes to sustainable success, then they're going to use all resources possible to finally fix the quarterback position. If that means drafting one with the third overall pick next month, they've got to do it. If that means doing whatever it takes to acquire a second first-round pick, they've got to do it.
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