By Paul M. Banks
The Chicago Bears entered the season desperate for a #1 wide receiver to emerge. In week three, Brandon Lloyd appeared to be that guy with 124 yards and a touchdown: (The sole 100 yard effort by a Bears wide-out this season. Unfortunately, Lloyd strained his posterior cruciate ligament in week four and we didn’t see him again until Sunday when he had two catches for 17 yards. He was expected to be out just 2-4 weeks, but missed a month and a half instead. It has been insinuated that the Bears coaching staff was extremely fed up with Lloyd’s slow convalescence. Although nothing’s on the record, his Bear teammates allegedly don’t have high regard for his attitude and supposed lack of toughness.
Lloyd’s budding R&B singing career–“She All Mine,†his collaboration with Bobby Valentino, is a current top 50 hip-hop chart single- and comments about not wanting to take the field until he’s absolutely 100% gave ammunition to critics and resurfaced the negative reputation he received while playing for Washington. This late in the season, almost no NFL player is truly 100% healthy. Given how much money players make each game, it seems ridiculous that Lloyd would say and actually mean such a thing. Could there be another reason for his slow return? Would that reason due to an injury or off-the-field matter?
One thing’s for sure, he wasn’t held back due to the Bears having a stellar wide receiving corps. Since he’s been gone, only one Bear: Rashied Davis has resembled a bonafide NFL starting wide-out. One of the first features I ever wrote was a Daily Illini piece about Brandon Lloyd in 1999 as he was poised to break the University of Illinois record for receiving yards by a freshman. (his record was broken by Arrelious Benn last year). Since then I’ve followed his career arc quite closely. Lloyd’s now thought to be on his last chance. When his former college Head Coach and current Bears Offensive coordinator Ron Turner played the cronyism card and brought him into camp, conventional league wisdom had already given up on him. Under those circumstances, you would expect Lloyd to approach his job with something extra to prove, and not display a relaxed effort towards returning to work! So something here doesn’t add up. Either there’s another hidden factor here or someone (either Lloyd or the coaching staff) sold the Bears passing game and the team’s chances short.
the deal with Brandon Lloyd is he’s a Bears WR… no Bear WR will be worth a crap as long as the Orton/Grossman collabo is throwing them the ball…
LOL! Not this year though. Grossman is quite a few notches below Orton, especially this year
Hearing this negative press about Lloyd is disheartening. When I interviewed him, he was really nice and gave quote-worthy responses to my questions.
I still like you Lloyd!! I’m not a hater like Banks.
Like Obi-Wan told Skywalker “you will find young one, that many of the truths we hold dear depend on a certain point of view”
As I stated above I am willing to give both Lloyd and the coaching staff the beenfit of the doubt until something surfaces indicting them. Someone’s guilty of not doing their job, but its not clear yet who.
I made Brandon Lloyd. ok not really at all, but I was one of the first sportswriters every to do a feature on him (like I said above) back in his freshman year. so I want to see him work hard and succeed as much as any Bears and Illini fan
as always I am left speechless at your empowering responses