Bears Blitz

Published by TAB BAMFORD on November 8, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

At what point does a team cut its losses?

On Sunday, Tommie Harris was ejected 54 seconds into the Bears’ loss to the Cardinals for punching a lineman in the facemask. After the game, coach Lovie Smith was pretty blunt about his displeasure with Harris, using the word “stupid” when speaking about Harris’ “mistake.”

This comes two weeks after Harris was a healthy scratch from the Bears game in Cincinnati, also a blow out loss, in a decision made by Smith. Smith later explained that Harris hadn’t practiced all week, and the team wanted to go with guys that had been active during the week.

The subtitles on Smith’s comments about Harris two weeks ago included “work ethic,” and bordered on questioning the me-first attitude of his former All-Pro defensive tackle.

All of this is happening within the context of a defense that’s banged up all over the place. Brian Urlacher was lost for the season on opening day due to a mangled wrist, the team has missed his replacement, Hunter Hillenmeyer, for some with a rib injury, and lost Charles Tillman and Al Afalava to shoulder injuries on Sunday.

And the Bears are now 4-4 on the season, a half game behind Green Bay for second in the NFC North. Both teams are trying to see the dust kicking up behind the 7-1 Vikings as they run away with the division.

Harris was selected 14th overall in the 2004 draft, and burst onto the scene as one of the most dominant defensive tackles in the game. He, along with Urlacher, Mike Brown, and Lance Briggs, made the Bears defense one of the best in the NFL in 2005 and 2006.

But Harris has lost a lot of the last two years, and his game, to a number of injuries. Despite injury concerns, he signed a big money extension with the Bears in August 2008, and hasn’t earned much of that contract yet.

That contract has Harris in Chicago until 2012. Will the coaches keep his attitude around that long?

Consider that Harris is only 26 years old and was a first round draft pick. The potential is certainly there, and the Bears knew his value would be high enough on the open market that they gave him the big extension before he ever became a free agent.

Also a 26-year old defensive lineman, Gaines Adams fell out of favor in Tampa after underwhelming the Bucs coaches in two-plus seasons. The Bears traded a second round draft pick for Adams a couple weeks ago.

I bring up Adams because he might present a potential solution to the Harris problem that could help the Bears as well.

Bears GM Jerry Angelo doesn’t have a draft pick in the 2010 draft until the third round because of his trades for quarterback Jay Cutler and Adams. That’s a problem because of the depth issues the Bears are facing right now; their offensive line is miserable and their secondary isn’t very good, either.

If you look at two specific trades, Adams to the Bears and the Oakland Raiders sending a first round pick in the 2011 draft to the Patriots for Richard Seymour, there is a framework in place for the move of a big defensive lineman. Now it’s just up to the Bears to make the deal.

There are a number of teams that probably wouldn’t move a first round pick for the oft-injured Harris, but might consider a high-second rounder for him. A team like the Tennessee Titans, still trying to replace Albert Haynesworth, might be intrigued by the potential of putting Harris on their defensive front at the expense of what will be a top-10 pick in the second round.

Given the friction already existing between Harris and Smith, and Harris’ actions today that led to his ejection and a potential suspension from Commissioner Roger Goodell, the relationship might be shattered. A divorce might need to happen.

If that divorce gets the Bears back into the earlier rounds of the draft so they can address some of their other glaring issues, even better.

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