Bears’ Roach, Paea honored with Piccolo Awards

It wasn’t until Bears linebacker Nick Roach stood at the podium to accept his award as the team’s veteran recipient of the Brian Piccolo Award that the chilling similarities between Roach and the former running back who died of cancer were noted.

Both came into the league with the odds stacked against them as undrafted free agents, and in Piccolo’s case (1966) that was when the draft consisted of 20 rounds. Despite having led the nation in rushing and scoring as a senior at Wake Forest, Piccolo was still overlooked because he was considered too small and too slow.

Some of the same criticisms applied to Roach coming out of Northwestern in 2007. He was signed by the San Diego Chargers and made their practice squad, but late in the season the Bears signed him to their active roster. He has since started 45 games

The similarities don’t end there.

The 26-year-old Roach is the same age that Piccolo was when he died from embryonal cell carcinoma. Roach was born on June 16, the same date on which Piccolo died in 1970.

Piccolo’s disease was 100 percent fatal at the time, but the cure rate today is more than 70 percent. Proceeds from the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund now go to benefit breast cancer research at Rush Medical Center and the Clearbrook Center for the developmentally disabled in Arlington Heights. The fund has raised more than $8 million since 1991.

Defensive tackle Stephen Paea was the rookie winner of this year’s Piccolo Award, which is voted on by teammates and has been given every year since 1970 to the rookie who best exemplifies the courage, loyalty, teamwork, dedication and sense of humor exemplified by the former running back. It was expanded in 1992 to include a veteran player with the same characteristics.

Paea started slowly as a rookie and didn’t suit up for the first five games. But on his first professional series in Game Six, he sacked Minnesota Vikings quarterback Donovan McNabb for a safety.

“He reflects this award,” Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said of Paea. “He plays a very demanding position. It’s a cocked nose (tackle) position inside. It takes great physical toughness to play, and he (also) plays it with toughness of mind.

“The thing I appreciate and have great respect for is how he handled himself through (sitting the first five games). “He didn’t pout. He never made an excuse. All he (said) was, ‘How do I get better? How do I help this team?’ ”

Although he’s usually overshadowed by the team’s perennial Pro Bowl linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, Roach still finished sixth on the team last season with 61 tackles, and he was fourth with 6 tackles for loss. Not bad for a free agent.

“Free agents are just the guys who didn’t get enough time in college to get a look,” said Roach, whose senior season at Northwestern was limited to eight games because of a fractured leg. “So a free agent, hopefully, is just a guy who doesn’t listen to what he’s supposed to be and just kind of does what he feels like he should do. That’s good enough.”