I’m depressed. Totally devastated.
The Chicago Bears traded my favorite player, Brandon Marshall, today to the New York Jets, reportedly for a 5th round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. We’ll get to the reported compensation a little later, but now I want to focus on the fact that they Bears just traded the best WR they’ve had IN MY LIFETIME.
From the time I was born, I was bred to be a Chicago Bears fan. My father was a huge Gale Sayers fan so it was only fitting that I began a lifelong love affair with the Bears. Being born in 1968, my first few years alive saw the Bears as inept and horrible, but I was too young to care at that point. It was about 1976-77 that I really began to pay attention. This coincided with the Bears becoming halfway decent and making the playoffs for the first time since their championship season of 1963.
The first GOOD wide receiver I remember noticing was James Scott. He wore #89 and was a decent WR and caught 50 balls in 1977. That ranks as the 58th best season for a pass catcher in Chicago Bears history. It’s fairly obvious from that ranking that the Bears were a ground and pound team for most of their existence. At that time, they had a particularly good running back named Walter Payton. You might recognize the name. Only eight times BEFORE James Scott had the 50 catches in 1977 did a Bears receiver catch more than 50 passes and half of those were turned in by Mike Ditka, who played tight end. Eleven of the top 40 receiving seasons in Bears history are from RB’s or TE’s. So it’s abundantly clear that the Bears have never been a mecca for wide receivers. When the all-time receiving list is littered with names like Curtis Conway, Marty Booker, Bobby Engram and Marcus Robinson, your history isn’t exactly a who’s who of wide receivers.
Let’s look at Marshall’s stats for his time in a Bears uniform. In three short years, he is already 8th all-time in receptions, 11th all-time in yards, and tied for 5th in TD’s. THREE YEARS. His three years rank 1st, 4th and 27th as season for Bears receivers. He’d be higher in all those categories had he not been injured for a three games last year. He still totaled 279 catches for 3,524 yards and 31 TD’s in those three years. That is the best stretch for ANY wide receiver in Bears history.
Aside from production, Marshall did have his issues. Now, I’m an old school kind of guy and the off the field incidents bother me for any athlete. But as someone who has a “mental illness” as I do (depression) I can completely understand, but not condone, his pre-Chicago behaviors. While in Chicago, he was a model citizen for two years. It was this last year that bit him in the rear. The “Inside the NFL” gig was a problem. You’ve got to be concentrating on the game that week and not flying to NY for a TV show. At the same time, he got into a Twitter spat with a Lions fan that ended with him challenging the fan to a boxing match….for charity. Finally, he had issues with radio personalities in Chicago, specifically calling ESPN1000 host Carmen DeFalco a clown. Again, I’m not condoning this behavior, but as real and emotional as he is the last two instances make sense. And are those enough to warrant a trade? Not in my opinion. Add his production on the field to the issues and it’s a travesty that he was traded. I really hope Ryan Pace and the Bears front office aren’t using these instances as the reasons for trading Marshall.
It’s difficult when your favorite player is traded off of your favorite team. I loved Marshall’s passion to win while on the playing field. I loved his commitment to mental health awareness off the field. I have a hard time believing this was a salary cap move. Yes, it does create some cap space, but as the guys on Waddle and Silvy always say, “Who you going to replace him with?” The Bears have time to fill that hole, but it won’t be the same for me this year without BMarsh on the field.
Good bye Brandon. I’ll still wear your jersey proudly.
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