Our beloved Bears information-gathering season is soon to be in full swing and certain elements of everyday life are going to remind us of such things. Having to think for more than 3 seconds about what jersey number Butkus wore, really made me realize I need to get Bears-focused.
As the free agents acquired get accustomed to life in Chicago and training camp with their new teammates I wanted to look back on some of the worst free agents the Bears have signed. Ones that left us saying "They were who we thought they were." Keep the barf bags handy.
5. Marion Barber. On paper Barber had an unspectacular if not decent season with the Bears in his lone year of 2011, unfortunately for him (and dozens of competitive-pencil-artists everywhere) the game isn't played on paper. His two blunders (running out of bounds instead of killing time & fumbling) in the game against the Broncos will never be forgivable.
4. Orlando Pace. After he recovered from his injury (after being really bad for 10 games or so) he was unable to beat out CHRIS WILLIAMS at left tackle. Let that sink in for a second.
3. Adam Archuleta. Lovie loved him some bad safeties and former St. Louis retreads, so you can see how perfectly he fit. Dude was brutal the previous year in Washington, and you can chalk this one up to a coaching staff being arrogant. To just assume you can take a broken down/bad player and just make him decent again seems at least a touch foolish if not downright stupid.
2. Bryan Cox. His middle finger and post-game whining antics will always overshadow his uninspired 8 sacks and 130 tackles in his two seasons with the Bears.
1. Roy Williams. I saw this guy in Peppers throwback and I had just told him the Bears had signed Roy Williams, and he was legit excited. I then knew to never talk to this individual again. Please tell me this was the only guy that didn't know exactly how that signing was going to go.
I hope I didn't make your stomach turn too much while reading about these memories. One thing about this list is evident to me; in the NFL when you're done, you're done. In baseball and some other sports sometimes guys just have bad years and bounce back, that rarely happens in the NFL. That being said, I'm sure every other team in the NFL has regrets in free agency as well.