[CBFF] Bears taking a wait-and-see approach with Brown - Chicago Bears - Sent Using Google Toolbar

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Bears taking a wait-and-see approach with Brown - Chicago Bears


Bears taking a wait-and-see approach with Brown

By Larry Mayer





LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Bears hope that Mike Brown fully recovers from
the torn ACL he sustained in the season opener in San Diego, but his
future with the team remains uncertain.

After playing in all 64 games during his first four seasons with the
Bears, the veteran safety has suffered serious leg injuries each of
the past four years that have forced him to miss 43 games.



 Mike Brown has scored a team-record seven defensive TDs in eight
seasons. "How am I going to count on Mike Brown?" general manager
Jerry Angelo said last Thursday. "Mike's been hurt a lot. We certainly
would like to have Mike on our football team, but we're just going to
wait. He's several months away from being back and healthy again, and
we'll just see as time goes on where that road leads."

Brown, whose contract expires following the 2008 season, is the
franchise's all-time leader with seven defensive touchdowns. The Bears
have won the last 14 games that he has started and finished, but the
2000 second-round pick hasn't been able to stay healthy.

Brown missed 14 games with a torn Achilles' tendon in 2004, was
sidelined for the final four regular-season games with a calf injury
in 2005 and missed the final 10 contests and three playoff games
including Super Bowl XLI with a torn foot ligament last season.

Hopeful that Brown will return, Bears coach Lovie Smith compared the
safety to an NBA player who is enjoying a career renaissance after
several injured-plagued seasons.

"Grant Hill was banged up for a lot of years, and right now he is a
player who is playing in the league," Smith said.

 "He's healthy and being very productive. Mike has had different
injuries. But it hasn't been the same one. I think you get to a point
where you fix a lot of things and you should have a pretty good
player. Hopefully that will be the case with Mike."

Moving forward: The Bears have a contingency plan in place in case
players such as linebacker Lance Briggs and wide receiver Bernard
Berrian sign elsewhere in free agency.

"If we don't [retain them], then we have other players that will take
their place," Angelo said. "You saw [linebacker] Jamar Williams with a
start [Dec. 23 against the Packers]. We have Michael Okwo that will be
back. We feel good about him.

"We do have players that can replace these players. Can they be as
good, better, not as good? Time will tell. But we feel good that they
fit our scheme in what we look for.

"Same thing with Bernard. We'd certainly like to have Bernard back,
but if it doesn't work out, then we have to have players that will
step in, be it a Mark Bradley right off the top of my head or somebody
that we look at in the draft potentially."

Placing a franchise tag on Berrian remains a possibility. "I don't
like to use it," Angelo said. "But if it's in our best interest, I'm
not going to rule anything out."

Flag parade: Angelo was miffed by the rash of penalties drawn by the
Bears offensive line throughout the season.

"I'm sure that it contributed to the offensive woes," he said. "[It
was] very disappointing, particularly when you have a veteran bunch.
Could I sit here and tell you exactly what it was? I don't know. When
you're playing on the road, that happens. It's understandable with
crowd noise. But it happened at home, too.

"I'm sure coach [Harry] Hiestand and coach [Ron] Turner are going to
look at that. We had some snap problems; quarterback-center exchanges
early on as well.

"We shot ourselves enough in the foot in a lot of areas to lead us to
the season that we had, and we have to definitely get those things
corrected. That's beating yourself, and we can't do that."

Finishing kick: All five of the Bears' non-division losses in 2007
came to teams that made the playoffs with winning records (the
Chargers, Cowboys, Giants, Redskins and Seahawks).

"We lost to a lot of good football teams," Angelo said. "There weren't
many bad teams that we lost to. By no means is that an excuse for our
poor play. We competed, but we just weren't able to find a little
something at the end to finish a game."

The Bears either led or trailed by no more than seven points at some
point in the fourth quarter in all 16 games this season.

"We weren't able to find a way," Angelo said. "We were finding a way
to lose rather than finding a way to win. Why is that? If I knew that
answer, I would be in Canton [in the Hall of Fame]. But unfortunately,
I don't really see that in my future."