Bears Blitz

Published by Andrew Garda on May 11, 2012
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

I said it earlier on Twitter and in the Daily Links, but it bears repeating.

When Brandon Marshall leaves a team, he doesn’t just burn bridges—he nukes the site from orbit just to be sure.

With Marshall’s vent on station 740 The Game about the state of the Dolphins (amongst other things), we see another situation where as he leaves a team, he makes it known he’s never coming back.

Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action.

Should Bears fans be worried they traded for the new Terrell Owens?

Let’s take a look at both flaming cities he left in his wake and see how much was Marshall’s fault and how much wasn’t.

We start back in the Mile High City, circa spring of 2010. The Josh McDaniel regime was in the middle of it’s brief existence and things were tense between McDaniels and Marshall. Really, they had been since McDaniels arrived and Jay Cutler was ousted rather ignominiously when the two didn’t click.

In truth, the writing was on the wall from that moment on. McDaniels wanted his people and neither Cutler nor Marshall was all that interested in changing from what they felt worked.

Cutler had some issues before McDaniels came to Denver, but McDaniels‘ “style,” if you want to call it that, didn’t make anything better.

Once Cutler was gone, Marshall had his own problems. He wasn’t happy losing Cutler, which led to him not putting enough effort into practices, which led to a suspension by the team.

Even with the issues he had with McDaniels (and again let’s be honest, he wasn’t the only one), Marshall put up good numbers, totaling more than 1,000 yards and a career-high 10 touchdowns.

Despite that, when he started agitating for a new contract, McDaniels had enough and shipped Marshall off to Miami.

While Marshall had nothing great to say about his coaches in Denver and had more than once been involved in situations off the field, he didn’t really scorch the earth that badly when he left. Further, despite his issues, there was a feeling that it all could be worked out and that while he had trouble in the Mile High City, his departure was not totally of his own making.

It’s not as if McDaniels ended up doing well. His miniature Belichick shtick wore on the organization quickly and he lasted just one season beyond Marshall, and not for half as long.

As bad as Marshall behaved at times, notably near the end of his career in Denver, he was not alone in fault for the situation.

Marshall was traded to the Miami Dolphins for a pair of second-round picks on April 14th, 2010. He was immediately given an extension.

Whether he was given a quarterback is up for debate.

Despite having an underwhelming and at times flat-out awful Chad Henne and a decidedly mediocre Matt Moore throwing him the ball, Marshall continued to play very well, adding two more 1,000-yard seasons to his resume.

Marshall does have a penchant for dropped passes, dropping four touchdown passes last year alone. Again, we can debate about the quality of the quarterbacks throwing to him, but an elite receiver has to get those passes.

While he sparred with opposing teams, Marshall was a good teammate by all reports for Miami. However, he did take a shot at the Dolphins quarterbacks at the Pro Bowl when he said the key to his good game had been that “elite quarterbacks put it in the right spots”.

Personally, I don’t think it’s anything I haven’t heard a top receiver on a bad team say before. Beyond that, you hadn’t heard about him being a bad teammate in Miami. So maybe that comment was the first crack, or maybe he was complaining in the building, or possibly it was the incident just before the trade when he was allegedly in a bar fight. Maybe it was his reported personality disorder.

However you slice it, the Dolphins were done. It had nothing to do with getting Peyton Manning—a popular myth at the time—and in fact it might have hurt Miami’s chances, because does anyone really think Manning was excited by Davone Bess?

The trade to Chicago came as something of a shock given Miami’s Manning pursuit, but Marshall’s recent comments about having a $2 million receiver catching just a few passes while the team rebuilds  is the best explanation.

The Dolphins found a way to dump a bunch of salary and someone who, for whatever reason, wasn’t loved by team officials.

While Denver was at least a 50-50 split in culpability, Marshall’s departure from Miami seemed to have very little to do with him, at least from a personality standpoint.

Players get traded or released all the time when their salary outpaces their production, and clearly Miami felt that was the case.

Despite his frank comments about the Miami situation, Marshall was removed largely for financial reasons. Also, it’s not as if any of us can argue that Miami has had a good quarterback in some time.

Marshall has his issues—of this there is no doubt. He has had off-the-field problems, which he is now coping with, and if he messes up again he could face suspension.

What he brings to the Bears is undeniable—a 1,000-yard receiver on a team that hasn’t had one in years, a player who wants to win and wants a ring. A player who Jay Cutler knows and trusts. A piece the Bears have needed for a long time.

Will he burn the Bears? While he has bounced from team to team in the last few years, the answer is no.

He is in a situation he hasn’t been in since before McDaniels arrived and blew up Denver. He has a top-shelf quarterback, a great defense to keep things close, an organization that wants him and teammates who will rally around him.

If ever there were a situation in which he can succeed, this one is it. In Chicago, he might finally have found a home.

When people make the Terrell Owens comparison, I understand. Two clearly troubled wide receivers who have moved one-too-many times to make anyone feel good. However, while Owens was always agitating and making waves which caused him to be released and traded, Marshall’s moves have at least to some extent been based on things outside of his control.

He’s not perfect, but he’s not a tactical nuke for team chemistry the way T.O. has been all too frequently.

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