Staying with Bears gives CB Porter 'peace of mind'

BOURBONNAIS - After playing for five different teams in five different cities in five years, cornerback Tracy Porter finally has a little continuity in his life in his second year with the Chicago Bears.

Porter's vagabond journey through the NFL began after four years in New Orleans, where the Saints drafted him in the second round in 2008 out of Indiana.

He played for Bears coach John Fox in Denver on a one-year contract with the Broncos in 2012, then spent a year with the Oakland Raiders, starting all 16 games for the only time in his career.

A shoulder injury limited him to just three games in 2014 in his only season in Washington, after which he signed for one year with the Bears on a make-good, veteran minimum deal for $870,000.

He made good, leading the Bears by a wide margin with 22 pass breakups. That earned the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Porter a three-year, $12 million deal to stay in the same city for the first time since 2011.

"It's definitely peace of mind because I don't have to pick up and move states," Porter said. "I don't have to try to shop around for another team. I don't have to tell my kids we're going to yet another school, so that's definitely a good feeling for me."

Porter turns 30 in less than two weeks, which makes him one of the oldest starters on a defense that is likely to have at least four who are 24 or younger.

"It doesn't startle me," Porter said, smiling at the thought of his impending milestone birthday. "It's more like, 'wow.' It's not something I'm freaking out about it, but I'm like, 'darn.'

The window is starting to close for Porter to make it back to the playoffs.

He made it to the postseason in each of his final three seasons in New Orleans but hasn't been back since, although he believes the Bears are headed in the right direction.

"Man, that pass rush," he said of a front seven that has added first-round pick Leonard Floyd to an outside linebacker crew that already includes Lamarr Houston, Willie Young and Pernell McPhee, who combined for 20½ sacks last season.

"As a guy in the secondary, when you have a pass rush putting on a show like these guys are putting on, it's just going to make it a little easier for us on the back end," Porter said. "You won't have to cover as long.

"We're still going to take care of business on our end, but having that pass rush to put the pressure on a quarterback to force those bad throws, it's going to be up to us to capitalize."

The Bears finished a respectable 12th in sack percentage last year, but the pass rush was inconsistent.

That partly explains why the Bears had just 8 interceptions in 2015 and only 4 from the secondary, including 1 by Porter. But the defensive backs have to take at least part of the blame, according to Porter.

"Rush and coverage work together; they're married as one," he said. "We had a few opportunities that we didn't capitalize on.

"They can't get sacks if we're not covering, and we can't get interceptions if they're not rushing the quarterback. We didn't do as well as a secondary of taking advantage of it as we should have."

With more security and continuity in his life, Porter expects to lead the way.

"To know you have a team that believes in you and wants you around for a few more years, that's definitely some continuity," he said. "That's definitely some confidence they're showing in me. But that's not to say that I can just sit around and feel secure and chill.

"I still have to go out and compete the way I did last year. I want to be even better than I was last year, even though last year was a pretty good year for me."

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