Marshall gamble, bad press don’t scare Bears
The Bears revealed much about their public posture and private policy Thursday.
But it was not in what they said. It was much more in what they didn’t say about Brandon Marshall.
So the focus will continue to be on what the Bears knew about the New York nightclub incident and when they knew it, but it really doesn’t matter.
That’s because the Bears really don’t care. Sorry, but they really don’t.
The Bears are in the business of making money and winning football games — in that order — and from the very top to the very bottom, they believe Marshall can help them do that.
While maintaining a consistently vague approach to answering questions about Marshall’s rap sheet during a conference call Thursday, GM Phil Emery and head coach Lovie Smith made it abundantly clear that they are very, very happy Marshall is here and they consider his past to be simply that.
In no way did they condone Marshall’s history of violence against women. Not at all. But Emery said ownership was aware of everything Marshall has done and signed off on the deal.
“We’re always communicating with each other at all levels,” Emery said when asked if Virginia McCaskey was in favor of the deal. “We communicated and they were very supportive.”
See, it’s not up to Emery or Smith to acquire Boy Scouts and teach them to play football. It’s their job to acquire large, vicious men and make certain they are properly trained and motivated to destroy humans wearing the other jersey on Sundays.
It’s Virginia McCaskey’s choice to allow bad people to play for her late father’s team, and it is Commissioner Roger Goodell’s choice to keep them in the league.
Emery and Smith are paid to win games, and they will do whatever’s necessary to continuing collecting checks, and they know in Marshall they traded for a top-five NFL receiver at a bargain-basement price.
“Despite the problems Brandon has had, he has always performed at a very high level on the field,” Emery said. “I’m comfortable we did everything possible in reviewing his character.”
The GM and coach sounded rehearsed while paying lip service to the notion that Marshall is a changed man and that the great influence of Smith, Jay Cutler, Jeremy Bates — and the outstanding character of the Bears players in the locker room — will keep Marshall out of jail and off the suspended list.
But the truth is some of the great character players in the locker room have had their own problems, and Smith’s handling of Tank Johnson and Cedric Benson was laughable.
The reality is Emery and Smith have no earthly idea whether Marshall will handle the pressure of Chicago and don’t know whether he might now be facing suspension again.
“That’s getting a little far ahead of the process,” Emery said. “The league has contacted us and we’re working through the process with the league.”
The Bears might even have protection from the Dolphins on one of those third-round picks they traded should Marshall miss time, but Emery wouldn’t comment on that.
Frankly, neither he nor Smith said much of anything, but in the way that they weren’t talking one had the sense that they know Marshall could help them get to the Super Bowl — or wind up out of the NFL in the next three years.
And they don’t care because that’s the NFL, and that’s the risk teams are willing to take to win it all, even if it means reputations and jobs may rest with a roll of the dice.
“With every employee you hire there’s some risk,” Smith said. “We’re trying to win games.
“Phil wanted to know how I felt and if I was completely on board. The answer is, ‘Yes.’
“I understand some of the issues (Marshall’s) had. I think we all do some things we’re not happy about. His problems are well documented. We know about those and we still feel very good about having him here now.”
That’s not going to make victims of domestic violence very comfortable, but that’s nothing new, either.
I wondered a few years ago right here in this space if the NFL cared as much about violence against women as it did Mike Vick’s torture of dogs, and if the outcry to protect abused women would ever reach the level it did for pets.
The answer continues to be a resounding and despicable, “No.”
But if you’re looking to blame someone, look higher up than people like Phil Emery and Lovie Smith, who seek only NFL victories, not moral clarity or an NFL roster stacked with decency.
It’s the commissioner and team owners who decide such matters, and to this point they have most certainly dropped the ball.
brozner@dailyherald.com
ŸListen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score’s “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM, and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.