A Move in the Making: Why Julius Peppers To the Chicago Bears Makes Sense
Published by Ryan Cook on February 24, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Chicago. The land of defensive powerhouses, well so it used to be. Finally, the inevitable has happened. The Chicago Bears have veined interest in a top caliber athlete, and his name is Julius Peppers.
After a sloppy and pathetic 2009 campaign, the Chicago Bears had more than a handful of worries heading into the break. Coaching issues plagued the team with the possible firing of head coach Lovie Smith, and even the optimistic Bear fan out there still doubts Jay Cutler‘s ability to get the job done in 2010.
Fair enough, those are all predominant issues in the Bears football team at the moment, but the defensive structure? Well that’s an area that seems to have gone unnoticed for the most part.
Never fear though, the Bears coaching staff is all over it, and just to show you that they still have their eyes open enough to see right past the ever so promising Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings in the NFC North, they have gone out of their way to show some interest in newly labelled free agent Julius Peppers.
Julius, who is now unlikely to receiver a franchise tag at this point in time, is now open to any team willing to pay the hefty sum of $40 million to reel in the defensive end that packs a promise.
Are the Bears up to paying that kind of money? Well I guess so. Who knows exactly how much they have hoarded behind the scenes. Sure they aren’t exactly the Dallas Cowboys in terms of money and finance, but they’ve had no problem paying for talent in the past.
One thing Julius would bring a lot of to Chicago is attitude. Something that has been lacking in just about the whole city. The Cubs have lost it, the White Sox have lost it, the Bulls have lost it, and more importantly the Chicago Bears have lost it. But what is ‘it’? Well it’s the flare that the Bears used to have. The defensive scheme that would throw even some of the toughest offenses astray. The powerhouse style football that would always put them in contention, no matter how bad their roster may have looked on paper.
That’s the Bears of old, but unfortunately, the Bears of new is rather depressing. Still, there is time, and with a new defensive end such as Julius Peppers to fill the void that the Bears have lacked, he may just spark up old time play makers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs into their old form.
The sum of money is large, but let one thing be known out of this speculation, the NFC North would officially become the hardest division in football. Forget about the NFC East, forget about the NFC South, the NFC North would pack a punch and leave many fans wanting more after each game.
Think about. The Packers with Rodgers, the Vikings possibly with Favre or McNabb and now the Bears with a rejuvenated Jay Cutler and Julius Peppers. I’m smiling just writing it.
Chicago could do more with Peppers than Peppers could do with Chicago. In the end it’s really his decision. Don’t be surprised though to see the Bears put the offer out there along with large sum of money, and do their best to reel in the experienced defensive end. He’s a prospect the Bears could honestly afford to gamble on.
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