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As we've already seen and heard, his definition of fair is much different than the Bears.

Maybe the Bears need to take a page from the Patriots. Not the filming or the hoodie, rather not overpaying for players at their prime now and on the decline throughout the rest of the contract.

at some point this team needs to draw a line in the sand and keep some of their guys. the best thing that could have happened for Briggs is for this team to have done as poorly as they have thus far. It makes the team less able to handle a loss of his abilities. They have to really worry about getting themselves a qb and an RB this off-season, the last thing they need is to have to chase down defensive players too.

The guy deserves a long-term contract. He's worked his butt off to become a very good NFL player after being a what 3rd round draft choice? He's looking to establish some financial security in a league where you can be cut any minute. If the Bears don't sign him long-term, they're morons.

Give the man his money. He's earned out.

I just hope is he able to feed his family on what he made for this year...I may start up a collection...

My attitude on Briggs has changed. When he first started to talk about how he wasn't getting the contract he wanted, I thought of the 6/$33M deal, and then scoffed at his definition of "fair." Six point five million per year, with $16M guaranteed before this season even began, is quite a large chunk of change. But he kept complaining about his treatment to the media, to the nation on ESPN. I grew quite irate with how puerile he was behaving, while Rosenhaus was dancing in the background.

But when he finally realized that he blew any chances for getting a long term deal, as the alloted time expired, had come and gone, he signed the franchise tag, under the agreement that if he played for at least 75% of the snaps this season, Angelo wouldn't use the tag for a second time. It looked as if he set aside his differences, and started to play hard. My stance with Briggs softened, as he has shown that he genuinely does want respect. He is still greedy. But so is at least 99% of the NFL players of today. So the way I see it, **** it. Angelo should just work with Briggs, and have him remain a Bear for the rest of his career.

"It looked as if he set aside his differences, and started to play hard. My stance with Briggs softened, as he has shown that he genuinely does want respect. He is still greedy. But so is at least 99% of the NFL players of today. So the way I see it, **** it. Angelo should just work with Briggs, and have him remain a Bear for the rest of his career."

He's never stopped playing hard. Whenever he suits up for the Bears from the time he's been drafted to this year, he's always given maximum effort and for the most part made plays consistently. I don't know when you're referring to when he didn't "play hard".

Also, I don't understand why you consider him greedy. When a financial analyst is looking for a raise, what kind of factors should he look at? He looks at the average salary for someone in his position, his skill level, experience, etc, industry average. That's no different than what Briggs was doing when he turned down that contract extension. Briggs' peer, many of which are inferior players were signing contracts for higher amounts of guaranteed money, and he felt he deserved better relative to his industry and those other factors I mentioned. If you're not looking out for yourself in business whether you're an accountant or an NFL star, then you're an idiot.

I don't understand why we put athletes on some kind of pedestal where they always have to be "loyal" to their teams. If the Bears were loyal to Briggs they would have given him the money in the first place. Lance Briggs did the smart thing by holding out for what he's worth. In the end, he'll get a large amount of money and relative to the market, he'll deserve every penny.

Briggs is a monster who goes all out every game. However, I don't think the Bears are eager to have a large chunk of the salary cap invested into one position (linebacker).

Unless the Bears dont give him an offer he feels is fair then he is outta there and chasing the highest bidder like 90 percent of free agents these days, who all have the best of intentions, dont they?

I meant started in as soon as the season began, he ran out and played hard. After looking back at the statement I can easily see where I caused some confusion. That was not the intention, and I apologize for that.

The bears need to sign Briggs and move him to the "mike" position and switch Urlacher to the "will" Urlacher has really had a poor seasons injuries or not, I think that would be the smartest move at this time. They can't afford to let him go now. Although they still need to pay Tommie but atleast manning jr and archuetta comes off the books after this year. Bears need to fit a few players in on D and need to rebuild their O in the offseason. They really need a strong safety, Bob Sanders maybe?

Urlacher still leads the Bears in tackles this year, how can you say he's having a poor year? no, it may not be the monster years he had to begin with, but he's still fairly consistent, and the back injury may be slowing him down, but he's still producing. He and Briggs make an excellent pair, hope to see both of them retire as Bears!

i wouldn't let briggs get away. think it'll be harder to replace a LB of that caliber.

Bob Sanders?? I don't think the colts wld let him go

Bears are gonna sign Chicago area native Michael Turner and possibly Derek Anderson??