Bears’ Briggs says request ‘necessary’

Six-time Pro Bowl linebacker Lance Briggs, who missed the final three preseason games with a bruised knee, says he will play in Sunday’s season opener against Atlanta.

That’s the extent of the good news from Briggs, who wants to be traded if the Bears won’t renegotiate his six-year, $36 million contract that has three more years to run.

That’s unlikely to happen this year, if at all, which means Briggs will have to deal with it, at least for a while.

The timing of his request is questionable at best, coming just before the Bears embark on a season in which they hope to improve on last year’s, when they fell a game short of the Super Bowl.

“It was necessary,” Briggs said. “This wasn’t the first time I contacted the Bears. I contacted the Bears after the (2010) season. If the organization says (it’s) not willing to talk about my deal now or during the season or at the end of the season or next year, then I know that my days here are numbered.”

Only if the Bears decide they are, since they hold all the cards.

Briggs is under contract, so he’s in no position to demand anything. If the Bears want to play hardball, which they seem inclined to do, they basically can tell Briggs, “You play for us or you don’t play.”

That’s kind of the point of a contract, but Briggs and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, don’t seem to understand that, even though Briggs agrees that his was a fair deal when it was signed before the 2008 season.

“Since I’ve signed the deal, have I not lived up to the contract?” Briggs said. “OK, and (I’ve) continued to do that year in and year out.”

Apparently Briggs believes that living up to a contract for half of its duration makes him an honorable man.

But it begs the question: If it was a fair deal then, why isn’t it a fair deal now?

“If I play at X amount of money, and then this year I’m asked to play for half of that, my play doesn’t decrease, right?” Briggs said. “Correct?

“So I have every right to go in and ask — and ask — for a raise or in this case ask to at least flip the years. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

One of the options Briggs has suggested is flip-flopping this year’s base salary of $3.9 million with his 2013 base salary of $6.5 million, which would give him an extra $2.6 million this year.

There’s nothing wrong with asking for a raise. There’s also nothing wrong with the Bears saying, ‘No.’ Or pointing out that Briggs signed a contract for six years, not for three years with an option to whine about a renegotiation halfway through.

“The main ingredient here is to get something,” Briggs said. “Or have management that’s willing to even talk. Whether it be, ‘Hey, let’s deal with it at the end of the season,’ then I have something to work with.

“But when the organization says ‘We’re not talking now; we’re not talking ever,’ then that puts me in a position where I know my days are numbered.”

On the positive side, Briggs says his contract situation won’t affect his play, which has been exceptional since he cracked the starting lineup early in his rookie season.

“Nothing changes out on the practice field,” he said. “When we go out there and I get coached, and I learn and I get ready for our opponent. Nothing changes.”

And there’s no reason to doubt that Briggs will continue to be a Pro Bowl player.

“It hasn’t affected him,” coach Lovie Smith said. “To me, everyone here has a contract, and they’re all honoring their contracts.

“When you go to work, when you have a job to do, your teammates are all expecting you to do your job, and that’s what Lance has done. If there is something going on, you can’t tell it out here, and that’s all I’m interested in.”

rlegere@dailyherald.com