Haugh: When he's healthy, this receiver must be on the field

[G08]

When he's healthy, this receiver must be on the field

David Haugh
On the Bears

10:33 PM CST, November 13, 2008


Brandon Lloyd is the only wide receiver on the Bears roster with a 100-yard game this season.

The Bears decided Sunday either they didn't need or didn't want Lloyd on the active roster against unbeaten Tennessee.

Lloyd explained that it was coach Lovie Smith's "strategy decision," to sit him against the NFL's stingiest scoring defense.

Bears wide receivers caught five passes for 69 yards against Tennessee.

Bad strategy.

"I've been champing at the bit to get out there," Lloyd said.

Everyone agrees Lloyd was healthy enough to play Sunday for the first time since he sprained his knee Sept. 28, and Lloyd's name hasn't been on the injury list all week.

If I were a Bear, that would bother me.

It would bother me the coaching staff believed rookie Earl Bennett and his bit role on special teams could help the Bears beat the Titans more than Lloyd and his potential big-play ability.

It would bother me that the best 45 healthy players were not in uniform against the toughest opponent on the schedule.

On or off the record, no player has indicated it bothered him.

Instead we have heard about players who have questioned Lloyd's toughness with whispers in the locker room. We have heard how privately nobody in the organization appreciated Lloyd's comment that he was waiting until he was 100 percent to return.

We have heard one irrelevant thing after another about a player who apparently couldn't outrun his reputation even if he was faster than Devin Hester.

Unless we have heard about Lloyd being arrested or criticizing teammates and coaches—which we haven't—none of the other stuff matters.

It even has been suggested on a radio show this week that the Bears might consider cutting Lloyd because of frustration over him taking longer than expected to return.

Indeed, such a move would mark a statement from the Bears. It would say: We're serious about sabotaging our passing game for the second half of the season.

Did I miss the news about the Bears picking up a Pro Bowl wide receiver?

Didn't think so.

Slow healer or not, the Bears need this guy. Marty Booker hasn't caught a pass in the last two games, Devin Hester has been just OK moonlighting as a wideout and Rashied Davis has emerged as the team's leading receiver.

Sorry, that doesn't describe a receiving corps that couldn't benefit immediately from what Lloyd has to offer. Before he went down, he averaged 16.6 yards per catch and led the team in receptions.

The Bears find themselves in the midst of an NFC North battle that figures to go into the final week of December. That's seven games away.

It seems silly in the bottom-line business of the NFL to hold it against Lloyd that he isn't linebacker-tough. The guy has the ability to make big catches against defensive backs not every Bears receiver can make. Once Lloyd makes a few of those, watch how quickly those whispers in the locker room and front office turn into "attaboys."

"The last time Brandon played for us, he played really good football," Smith said. "We can't wait to get Brandon out there."

Well, if that were entirely true, wouldn't Lloyd have been out there last Sunday?

Lloyd is an easy target. He has a thriving side career as a singer known as "B. Lloyd." He says his first single "She All Mine," with Bobby Valentino, sits at No. 52 on the hip-hop charts. He often comes across as a guy you would be more likely to meet at an art gallery than in an NFL locker room.

His life stretches well beyond a 100-yard rectangle, and that can be hard for those in the 24/7 football community to accept. A former executive from one of Lloyd's two previous teams said people there wondered if off-the-field stuff affected his commitment to football. Maybe the Bears have wondered the same thing lately.

During Lloyd's layoff, after all, he performed his hit at the DuSable Museum of African-American History on Oct. 25 and again Tuesday on WFLD-Ch. 32's morning show. Nobody in the Bears organization has recommended Lloyd curtail his live performances while he's out with an injury, but they haven't gone unnoticed either.

Even though Lloyd says he never missed any rehabilitation time because of his second career, the perception created by his music success can blur that.

"I know there are a lot of successful people who do other things," Lloyd said. "CEOs aren't just CEOs, they fly airplanes. I just really enjoy it. So on my off day I did."

How Lloyd spends his off days has no effect on this Bears season. But if the Bears want to put winning over whispers, how he spends Sundays still could.

dhaugh@tribune.com

[IE]

I don't care too much if Lloyd might be a little distracted when the game clock's not ticking. He's been money when it is ...