Bears Blitz

Published by Mike Chiari on December 16, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears wide receiver Sam Hurd has the right to a fair jury trial for the hefty federal drug charges he is facing, but the Bears’ organization must act immediately in dissolving their relationship with the troubled player.

Hurd was arrested by undercover agents at a Rosemont, Ill. steakhouse on Thursday, according to Michael C. Wright of ESPNChicago.com, after negotiating for “five to 10 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week for distribution in the Chicago area,” with what he thought was a drug distributor.

Upon getting to his car, Hurd was handcuffed and detained. Provided Hurd did, in fact, attempt to negotiate with the undercover agent, he probably doesn’t have much of a case as far as proving his innocence goes.

With what has already come to light regarding the situation, I think the best course of action for the Bears would be to release Hurd immediately. The prospect of a player distributing mass amounts of drugs can give the organization a major black eye, so there is no use keeping Hurd around.

It is very possible that no players or representatives of the Bears’ franchise other than Hurd was involved in this alleged drug ring, but if the Bears keep Hurd, then it might be misconstrued otherwise. If the Bears want to save face in a very tough situation, then they need to cut Hurd and show that these types of off-field antics won’t be tolerated.

Not only would the move be a strong and admirable statement from the organization, but there isn’t much reason to keep him around in the first place. Hurd is a solid special-teamer, but he has just eight catches on the season as a receiver, so getting rid of him isn’t really a difficult decision.

At this point, no good can come of keeping Hurd in the fold. I suppose releasing him could cause some players to look at the Bears as being an all-business organization, but this situation has the potential to become dire very quickly.

If this was Brian Urlacher or Matt Forte or some player that is synonymous with Bears football, then more careful deliberation would have to be put into the decision. Hurd is simply a fringe player on the roster right now, though, and hasn’t exactly earned the right to be given the benefit of the doubt by the Bears when something this Earth-shattering comes to light.

At this point the Bears can either do what may be viewed as the more respectable thing by keeping Hurd, standing behind him and attempting to work through his issues, or they can do the smart thing and sever their ties with him. There’s too much at stake here to worry about feelings being hurt, so the Bears have to do the right thing and release Hurd.

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