Having just dealt with a scumbag player with severe character issues in Ray McDonald, you knew the Chicago Bears were going to be ultra-conservative going forward in regards to off-the-field incidents. They’re not taking any crap, as the Jeremiah Ratliff incident showed us this week.
New GM Ryan Pace and Coach John Fox are restoring order to a franchise that was severely lacking in that department under Marc Trestman. The new Bears leadership is showing some much needed zero tolerance type of standards. You saw it in the summer with McDonald, and then again on Wednesday with Jeremiah Ratliff.
More on that came out today.
Jay Glazer reported on the police being called to the Chicago Bears facility earlier this week after Jeremiah Ratliff was released by the team:
“Jeremiah Ratliff actually got into it with the team’s training staff. He got very emotional about it and he said some things, basically, that you can’t take back. He made some threats and might have been said out of emotion at the time, but the Bears didn’t take that too lightly. Last year, Ratliff also had an issue where they had to pull him off the practice field. [Former Bears Head Coach] Marc Trestman though instead of putting him out, made him team captain. That’s not what [general manager] Ryan Pace and [head coach] John Fox did. They said, some of the things he said, he just can’t take back and we’ve got to move on.”
Pretty hilarious that Trestman actually promoted this guy to team captain. As if we needed any more evidence that Trestman was just a really nice who was in way over his head and didn’t know what he was doing.
Well, like the cliche says (because it’s totally true), nice guys finish last. Although how do we apply that slogan to Jeremiah Ratliff as he’s anything but a nice guy.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye. He also appears regularly on numerous television and radio talk shows all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.