Briggs stays with Bears; Berrian takes deal with Vikings

The door at Halas Hall that Bears GM Jerry Angelo had left open just a crack for unrestricted free-agent linebacker Lance Briggs swung wide open Saturday night.

And the three-time Pro Bowler strolled through, accepting a $36 million, six-year contract, including $13 million in guaranteed money, to remain in Chicago.

The relationship between Briggs and the Bears has often been contentious since he turned down a six-year, $33 million offer two years ago.

Last year at this time the Bears used the franchise tag, dreaded by players, to keep Briggs in town with a $7.2 million salary. That aggravated the five-year veteran, who sought a long-term deal with a signing bonus in the neighborhood of $20 million and at one point vowed never to play for the Bears.

Briggs, 27, reluctantly accepted his status last season with assurance from the Bears that they would not use the tag on him again this season. Although he had not received offers from any other teams in the first two days of free agency, Briggs' agent, Drew Rosenhaus, and the Bears had continued to talk.

Last week at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, when asked about Briggs and the Bears' other high-profile free agents, Rex Grossman and Bernard Berrian, Angelo said, "We made it clear we wanted them back. They've made it clear that they would like to be back, and we're going to do our best to make sure those things happen."

While Grossman signed a one-year deal a week ago and Briggs is signed through 2013, Berrian defected to the NFC North rival Minnesota Vikings for $42 million over six years, with $16 million in guaranteed money.

Berrian led the Bears with 71 receptions for 951 yards in 2007 and was considered one of the top available receivers in a mediocre market. The Raiders' Jerry Porter, a talent similar to Berrian, got $30 million over six years a day earlier from the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Bears were believed to have originally offered Berrian $25 million over five years with an $8 million signing bonus and had not improved that offer.

Berrian's addition is huge for a mediocre receiving corps in Minnesota, and his loss is significant for a Bears group of wideouts that now cannot even be considered mediocre.

Berrian and Muhsin Muhammad, who was released last week, combined for 111 catches, 1,521 yards and 8 touchdowns last season. The remainder of the Bears wide receivers combined for 43 catches, 535 yards and 3 touchdowns in 2007.

Mark Bradley and Devin Hester, the de facto starters, had 6 and 20 catches, respectively, last year. Rashied Davis, a restricted free agent who received the lowest tender offer of $927,000, had 17 catches for 165 yards in 2007.

While the Bears have huge holes to fill at wideout and offensive line, plus lesser concerns at running back, Briggs' return should help them regain the level of defensive play they achieved in the Super Bowl season of 2006, when they finished No. 3 in points and No. 5 in yards allowed. Those numbers plummeted to 16 and 28, respectively, last season, when an epidemic of injuries sidelined seven starters for varying lengths of time.

Briggs missed one game with a hamstring injury and another with a hip problem, but he was voted to his third straight Pro Bowl and his 140 tackles were second on the Bears to Brian Urlacher. Briggs led the Bears with 10 tackles for loss.

In the three previous seasons, Briggs' total of 514 tackles were tops on the Bears, well ahead of the 461 of Urlacher, who missed seven games with injuries in 2004. The two games that Briggs missed last season were the first of his five-year NFL career.

Earlier Saturday, Bears No. 3 tight end John Gilmore, a six-year veteran, signed a three-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.