Bears fans have been on an emotional rollercoaster for much of this offseason, and especially in the last 12 hours.
Over the weekend, Bears Twitter was a book of lamentations. Second round draft pick Jaquan Brisker had still not signed his rookie deal and threatened to hold out of training camp. Speculation that Quinn wanted a trade or would hold out of camp had been simmering for weeks and began to bubble up. The orange helmets nearly caused World War III. Then the terrible cherry on top: Roquan Smith was not close to an extension with Chicago and was being reported as a training camp hold out.
Things looked grim. The media had a field day detailing each and every ‘misstep’ of the Poles’ regime’s first offseason, already declaring it to be a mess (even though the offseason was not yet concluded). Dire predictions of failure abounded as well as fears that Justin Fields’ entire career would soon be over.
But in the 11th hour, we got a small miracle. Late last night, at nearly midnight EST, it was announced that the Bears and Brisker had finally agreed on a deal and that the likely-to-be starting Safety will report to training camp. Morning came, and the Bears announced they had signed former Bengals offensive Tackle Riley Reiff to a one-year ‘prove it’ deal, adding even more veteran experience and talent on top of the gains made by signing Michael Schofield the day before.
Then Coach Eberflus and Ryan Poles met with the media and announced that Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith both reported for training camp after all.
So, to recap, the Bears’ offensive line situation is now much different and much improved from yesterday (and certainly from last month), our two best defensive stars have both reported for training camp, and all our rookies have signed their deals and will be at training camp. Roquan Smith still needs that extension, but it seems more likely now that the wheels at Halas Hall are in motion and a deal will be reached sooner rather than later.
I think it’s time now to put the torches and pitchforks back in the armory, at least until the next premature outrage that rocks Bears Twitter.