Bears' McCaskey: McDonald's arrest raises questions

Bears chairman George McCaskey was asked if he had any regrets about signing Ray McDonald in the aftermath of the defensive end's release following his third arrest in nine months, all involving charges of violence against women.

"I've asked myself that question a lot," McCaskey said. "What more could I have done? Is there somebody else we could have consulted with? Should I have taken more time to make a decision? I don't know. We thought we had a good structure, a good support system. We thought we had safeguards in place in case something like this happened."

Just 62 days after the Bears signed the veteran McDonald to a one-year, $1.05 million, non-guaranteed, make-good deal that did not include any money up front, they released him after he was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence and child endangerment. According to police, McDonald made physical contact with his former fiancee while she was holding their baby early Monday morning.

"The overriding emotion for me was sadness," McCaskey said, when he first heard of the arrest. "Sadness for the child, for the child's mother and for the entire situation. Domestic violence is a vexing social problem. The NFL has had some high-profile cases, including this one, and the NFL because it's a leader in society, is a called upon to take action, which we are doing. We're not going to do it by ourselves, but I think we have an opportunity to make an impact."

The Bears had hoped McDonald, an accomplished starter at defensive end in San Francisco's 3-4 defense the last four years, could help ease the Bears' conversion from their 4-3 to a 3-4 defense.

But hours after the news about McDonald broke, Bears general manager Ryan Pace ended his employment. Although McCaskey had to be convinced to sign off on the McDonald deal, partly by a face-to-face meeting with the eight-year veteran, he said he did not need to be notified of his release.

"I wasn't involved because I didn't need to be," McCaskey said. "They knew what needed to be done and did it.

McCaskey said he considered talking to McDonald's alleged victims before signing him, but decided against it due to the inherent bias on both sides in such situations.

But the Bears did engage in dialogue with representatives of the domestic violence field before signing McDonald, although they did not discuss his situation specifically.

"We've had good discussions with them (and) since," McCaskey said. "People like a Safe Place and Wings have reached out to us. We've got partnerships with them. But I told representatives of those agencies that I didn't want to put them in the position of it being suggested that they signed off on our decision. It was our decision, my decision ultimately, alone."

McCaskey and the Bears are certain to tread more carefully when approaching similar situations going forward.

"It's something that we certainly don't want to see, (and we) don't welcome it," McCaskey said. "We understand that it's going to happen from time to time so we try to minimize it and handle it the best we can and the most straightforward manner when it happens."

McCaskey added that the sad saga does not diminish his confidence in general manager Ryan Pace.

"Not at all," McCaskey said. "We have complete confidence in Ryan."

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