Having lived in the Chicago-land area my whole life, I know what a great sports town Chicago is. During the summer months the city is divided between the White Sox to the south and the Cubs to the north, but during the fall and winter, the city unites and is firmly behind its Chicago Bears. Last year the Bears went to the Super Bowl for the first time in over 20 years, only to fall short to the perennial powerhouse that is the Indianapolis Colts. This off season the Bears would seem to be in great shape to return to the Super Bowl; the team has the experience that playing in the big game brings, they have money to spend in free agency and have some great picks in the upcoming draft where they can get quality players who can come in and contribute. Everything seemed to be going great, that is until Lance Briggs and his ass clown of an agent, Drew Rosenhaus, decided to get greedy.

Lance Briggs is threatening to sit out the 2007-08 season because he is insulted by the Chicago Bears putting the Franchise Tag on him. The Franchise Tag is a tool each NFL team is allowed to use once a year for one player they wish to retain for another year before reaching a long-term deal while the player would otherwise become a free agent. For exclusive free agents, which Briggs is, the player must either accept the franchise tag or sit out the season, earning no pay. This is an acceptable policy considering the pay franchise tagged players earn for their one-year of service. The first time a player is tagged, he is paid the average of the top five highest paid players at his position. In Lance Briggs case, he would be paid the average of the top five linebackers or $7,200,000 for the season. That means he is making $7.2 million for one season or $450,000 for every regular season game. And he is insulted by that? I am insulted that he is insulted.

According to the CIA World Fact Book, the average GDP per capita in America is $43,500; this means that it would take the average American over ten years to accumulate the wealth that he gets for a 60-minute game. It would take around 165 years for the average American to earn the money that he would make for six months worth or work. To tie this into dedicated servers, he could purchase close to 3,200 quality Dell PowerEdge 860 dedicated servers that come standard with CeleronD 2.53GHz Processors, 1GB RAM and Single 160GB SATA Drives which are backed by FastServers’ award winning technical team that is available 24/7/365, for one year; that’s quite a deal. And he is insulted by that? I am insulted that he is insulted.

For the past few weeks, Briggs and Rosenhaus have been speaking to various media outlets to vent about what a raw deal the Bears are offering them. Don’t expect any sympathy from me. Last off season, Briggs turned down a multi-year deal worth over $30 million not to mention a lucrative signing bonus. Upon the refusal to agree to those terms, the Bears’ front office told Briggs of their intention to use the franchise tag for the upcoming ‘07-‘08 season and Briggs did nothing; the Bears applied the tag, as promised, and now Briggs is demanding a trade all because he is insulted by the paltry money the Bears are offering. Speaking about the situation recently, Briggs said, “I’ve played my last snap for them. I’ll never play another down for Chicago again.”

If I were in charge of the Bears, I would call Briggs on his bluff and do nothing; don’t trade him, don’t release him, don’t do anything except wait for him to sign on the line that is dotted. There is no way that he is going to sit out an entire season while in his prime because he feels insulted. By waiting on Briggs, it leaves him with an easy ultimatum, either sit-out and become out of shape and rusty with no pay or play hard to impress NFL teams and earn a long term lucrative deal next year that won’t be insulting.

The Chicago Bears’ off season has been a lot more volatile than it should be for a team that is so close to attaining greatness. Although Lance Briggs has been offered an exorbitant amount of money for one season, he eyes a lucrative long-term contract and is trying to create a stir to get his way. Hopefully the Bears will just wait out his tantrum and he will play next season to the pro-bowl level he is capable of for a measly $7.2 million. If he decides to go against all logic and sit out the year, the Bears will still be an elite team and get by without him. Hopefully if Briggs does sit out, he becomes fat and no one wants him next year; I hear Curtis Enis’ garage door repair company is hiring.