Is the Chicago Bears' Front Office Killing the Team?

The Chicago Bears are known as a frugal franchise.  It's what they do, and you know the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  Well, it's broke.

It all started halfway through the Super Bowl season in 2006.  Lance Briggs didn't sign a contract extension.

We all know the drama, verbal punches were thrown, a certain person said that they will "never play in a Bears uniform again."

But hey, that was fixed, and Briggs is now happily a Chicago Bear ready to play with the star studded defense.  Right?  Wrong.

Tommie Harris and Brian Urlacher are currently in contract discussions with the Bears and trying to get raises and extensions.

Nothing seems to be volatile about these discussions like Briggs' were last season.  But then again, when Briggs started contract discussions, everything was peachy as well.

Then things turned horrible.  But who knows, maybe they learned from the Briggs debacle and are ready to give contracts to people who deserve them.  I mean, they gave Alex Brown, Desmond Clark, Rex Grossman, and Kyle Orton to extensions this off-season.

Then again, none of them are commanding super-star money like Urlacher and Harris are.  None of them are ready to head to yet another Pro-Bowl this season either.

As a Bears fan, I am worried that they don't have what it takes to hand out the deals that both of these players deserve.

Also, instead of not wanting another distraction, they could also be thinking, "Well, Briggs was a mess, but he is now in a Bears uniform and ready for less money than he originally wanted, why not try to low-ball these one of these players and get a bargain."

The problem is, neither of these players have questions like, "Well, he has always had a super-star next to him."

Urlacher was the main linebacker for years before Briggs came out of his shell to start dominating.

Harris always had a strong core of linemen around him, but he has been the big fish for the last two seasons and offenses are starting to worry more about him than the other guys in the trenches.

So what are the Bears going to do with these players?

Hopefully, they get them signed and we can avoid a contract dispute which could ruin this season like it ruined last season's.

If not, then we can look forward to another sad defender that wanted to be in a Bears uniform, and I don't think either will have trouble finding a new home if needed.

I'm Joe W.