More Brandon Marshall 2014 Bears reflection

[UOK]

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/7/71 ... s-imploded" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brandon Marshall suspects he knows why he was traded, and he said it had more to do with the Bears’ 5-11 record in 2014 than his own performance.

“We imploded,” the receiver said Wednesday. “And when you implode, people get fired — players, coaches, executives. That’s what happens. It’s part of the business.


“And they’re not going to go for the scout team player — they’re going to go for some of the key figures.”

In March, new Bears GM Ryan Pace and coach John Fox — who replaced those fired executives and coaches — decided to send Marshall and seventh-round pick to the Jets for a fifth-round selection.

“I think they knew there was relationships there that couldn’t continue to go forward,” Marshall said. “It wouldn’t have been best for the locker room. It wouldn’t have been best for the team. So they had to choose between situations.”

Asked specifically about his relationship with quarterback Jay Cutler, Marshall demurred. He would only say, three times in a row, that the Jets’ Ryan Fitzpatrick was his quarterback.

“When you look at how things happened, it’s sad, because that was my dream job,” he said. “I really enjoyed my time there. The city embraced me. It gave me a home. I still feel like it’s home. I still have a place there.”

On paper, the trade qualifies as one of the most lopsided in Bears history — behind only, perhaps, giving the Panthers tight end Greg Olsen for a third-round pick. Marshall was a star last season with the Jets. His 109 catches were fifth-most in the league, his 1,502 receiving yards ranked fourth and his career-high 14 touchdown catches tied for the league lead.

The Bears, of course, considered more than simply his statistics before moving him. Every other team Marshall has played for made a similar locker-room decision — Marshall was traded three times in a five-year span.

Pace said last month he didn’t regret the move one bit, declaring it was “what we felt was best” for the team.

The Jets, meanwhile, went 10-6 and were one Week 17 win away from giving Marshall his first-ever playoff appearance. Marshall said he was over it the next day, when he played with his 1-year-old twins.

“I’m going to take more time just to rejuvenate and relax a little bit,” said Marshall, who is spending Super Bowl week working for the Audience Sports Network, Showtime and CBS. “Just so I can be there for my team come December, January and hopefully February.”

Marshall is more proof this week — along with Olsen, Jared Allen and Charles Tillman — that life after the Bears can be sweet.

He hopes Bears running back Matt Forte, a free agent to be, won’t be put in the same position.

“Chicago needs to sign him back, man,” he said. “The thing that makes Chicago is the history, man. It’s family.

“That’s what’s so disappointing: that I felt like we reacted like everyone else in the league reacted (last year).”

That feeling of family, he said, trickled down from chairman George McCaskey to coaches and veteran players Devin Hester, Brian Urlacher, Tillman — and Forte.

“When you walk into the building you can feel that special atmosphere with the rich history of the great coaches and great players,” he said. “But then you sat in there and you saw those guys and it’s like, ‘Man, this is the core.’ Matt Forte has been a part of that, and I feel that Chicago should step up and keep him there.

“That’s their guy. They drafted him. He’s not only a stud in the community, he’s a stud in the field. He still can do it.”

[G08]

Newsflash to Brandon Marshall: every. single. team. that he has ever been on has traded him away.

[Bad Flanders]

BMarsh is more of a fan than most players. He is overly emotional a loud mouth and pretty honest in interviews (compared to most other players who just say the same generic crap).

Not saying he's right, not saying it's the best thing for teams (they obviously don't like it), but the guy sure seems loyal to guys that he feels deserve it (like Forte) and I don't get the "jerk" vibe from him that I get from someone like Bennett.

He has said a few things about certain players and coaches but he refuses to say anything real negative about the team or Chicago and I think that's really how he feels, cause I don't think he's capable of holding it back if he didn't feel that way. He doesn't have sour grapes about Chicago, he didn't rip Chicago off, he always produced here and played hard for what we gave up for him, so I don't see why Chicago fans should have any sour grapes either.

I would rather hear him talk than someone who was just saying what their publicist tells them to say, but I guess it's also why some people can't stand him.

[bearsfaninaz]

To me he seems butthurt still. You've been gone a year and he still brings it up lol. He obviously strained the relationship with cutler since he won't comment on it. But sometimes you need to look at the reflection in the mirror and realize there is a reason you've been traded away from every team you've been with. That reason is probably the guy you see in the mirror.

[Otis Day]

Brandon Marshall?

[RING4CHI]

Bears fans still hate Brandon Marshall. Got it.

[Magnum_Ursus]

It's pretty clear that B Marsh threw everyone else under the bus without holding himself accountable. I loved him as a player, but you can't have that even in a good locker room, let alone during the Trestman/Tucker meltdown

[UOK]

Bears fans still hate Brandon Marshall. Got it.

You never came off to me as somebody who would defend Marshall.

[wab]

I didn't really see anything in that article that sounded like sour grapes. He's always spoken very fondly of his time in Chicago.

[Bad Flanders]

I didn't really see anything in that article that sounded like sour grapes. He's always spoken very fondly of his time in Chicago.

Yeah, this is just that thing that fans do, it's like teenage girls, the last boyfriend is always the worst ever and new one is always the best. BMarsh is the last boyfriend so he is automatically out.

[ysleblanc]

Every time he talks, Marshall justifies Fox and Pace dumping him.

[MoFugger]

I didn't really see anything in that article that sounded like sour grapes. He's always spoken very fondly of his time in Chicago.

Im one of the guys biggest critics, and I couldn't find anything wrong with what he said.

[G08]

I didn't really see anything in that article that sounded like sour grapes. He's always spoken very fondly of his time in Chicago.

Im one of the guys biggest critics, and I couldn't find anything wrong with what he said.

NFL teams don't want a mouthpiece talking about/for them unnecessarily. Marshall has been gone for a full season and STILL is talking about the Bears.

Mainly, he refused to stop doing Inside the NFL, even after Fox said no, and that was the nail in his egotistical coffin.


Hell of a fucking player, though.

[KOP_Snake]

So glad we got rid of that red zone threat and great receiving production.

[southdakbearfan]

So glad we got rid of that red zone threat and great receiving production.

If that was all you got with him he would still be here.

Alas, some guys can't get out of there own way to success.

[RING4CHI]

Bears fans still hate Brandon Marshall. Got it.

You never came off to me as somebody who would defend Marshall.

It's like a freaking breakup neither side can move on from, and it got old a long time ago.

I'll admit I may be sympathetic towards Marshall because of his borderline personality disorder. I don't think people understand the illness or how to work with it. I'm not going to act like I know anything about it to understand it, because I don't.

A couple years ago, a really good friend of mine, the one that introduced me to my now wife came to me and told me she had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. As she poured her heart out to me with how she was dealing with the diagnosis, I sat there in silence not knowing what to say. When she finally asked that I say something, all I said was "Brandon Marshall". Literally, that's the only two words I said. It's all I could say. It's all I could think of. Of course, she was dumbfounded and didn't understand. I went on to explain about how there was a player with BPO that was dominating the NFL.

People are with BPO are difficult to deal with. Like none other. Trying to plan a Super Bowl party with my friend was a pain. Just to try to make plans to have my friend and her husband come over and watch the Super Bowl in my living room was a chore. I can't imagine with how big of egos football players have, and then one to have BPO on top of it, how difficult it is to understand them. Maybe someone with BPO being difficult to deal with in the business of the NFL is reason to move on from them, but at the same time, I don't think people understand it and I don't see it as a reason to continue to harp on them.

Then to see Brandon Marshall nearly double or more on the field production in catches (109), yards (1,502) and touchdowns (14) in 2015 than the Bears leading receiver (54/807/4), and on top of that get just a fifth round pick in exchange for that production, yeah I'll admit it, you can consider my ass chapped over it.

[G08]

Context, Ringer.

Every team has traded him away: that tells you all that you need to know about the things we do not hear/see as fans.

[DaDitka]

I didn't really see anything in that article that sounded like sour grapes. He's always spoken very fondly of his time in Chicago.

This week on Inside the NFL he said that if he would have been better with the media (and that he should have), he'd still be in Chicago. The funny thing was that it defiantly sounded as though he wished he was. Just struck me as odd considering he's still with the Jets. Kind of like regretting loosing your ex in front of your wife.

[UOK]

I didn't really see anything in that article that sounded like sour grapes. He's always spoken very fondly of his time in Chicago.

This week on Inside the NFL he said that if he would have been better with the media (and that he should have), he'd still be in Chicago. The funny thing was that it defiantly sounded as though he wished he was. Just struck me as odd considering he's still with the Jets. Kind of like regretting loosing your ex in front of your wife.

I don't think that was quite how it went, but it doesn't surprise me to hear it. Chicago's media is brutal, but I've never quite felt they were 100% unfair. Some athletes aren't ever conditioned to deal with bombardment from the press, and facing that constant criticism of a jaded city is no easy task.

That being said, he was a Lovie-ite, and that fucking guy instituted a culture of us-vs-them that never faded out of his acolytes. It poisoned the well.

[wab]

The problem with Marshall, and not to keep perpetuating his name, is that he's a general pain in the ass to the point that he gets traded from every team he's on. But he know's he's a pain in the ass, and regrets the way he behaves after it's too late. Dude could have owned this city if he wouldn't have been such a dick behind closed doors...and he knows it.

[Boris13c]

The problem with Marshall, and not to keep perpetuating his name, is that he's a general pain in the ass to the point that he gets traded from every team he's on. But he know's he's a pain in the ass, and regrets the way he behaves after it's too late. Dude could have owned this city if he wouldn't have been such a dick behind closed doors...and he knows it.

that's kind of why I give the guy a break ... he screws himself, realizes it after the fact, and tries to say the right things when it is too late ... and I attribute that to his mental illness

he has a handle on it mostly, and was pretty upfront about it a few years back ... but he doesn't have a 100% handle on it ... and that is why I think he wears out his welcome with teams ... it certainly isn't because of what he does on the field, because his contributions there are obvious and positive

[malk]

The problem with Marshall, and not to keep perpetuating his name, is that he's a general pain in the ass to the point that he gets traded from every team he's on. But he know's he's a pain in the ass, and regrets the way he behaves after it's too late. Dude could have owned this city if he wouldn't have been such a dick behind closed doors...and he knows it.

that's kind of why I give the guy a break ... he screws himself, realizes it after the fact, and tries to say the right things when it is too late ... and I attribute that to his mental illness

he has a handle on it mostly, and was pretty upfront about it a few years back ... but he doesn't have a 100% handle on it ... and that is why I think he wears out his welcome with teams ... it certainly isn't because of what he does on the field, because his contributions there are obvious and positive

That's pretty much my take on it too. Frustrating but doesn't make me think he's too much of a dick.