Latest News
The Chicago Bears are looking for a safety who will last. They think they might have found one in Brandon Meriweather.
He is good enough to be a two-time Pro Bowl player with the New England Patriots. He was not good enough to avoid being cut by the Patriots on Saturday. Which led to the Bears agreeing to a one-year deal with him Sunday to try to fill a gap in their secondary. Something says when the fine folks in Halas Hall talk about gap defense, the gaps in the secondary are not what they had in mind. At the very least, Meriweather provides a body who could make it onto the field for the Sept. 10 season opener against the Atlanta Falcons at Soldier Field. (continued below)
Not the official uniform of the Chicago Bears.
Second-team safeties Chris Conte and Craig Steltz had to leave the Bears’ exhibition season finale because of injury. Their status for the opener is up in the air. Which is where footballs should be flying once Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan figures out which defensive backs to pick on without worrying about being picked off.
Meriweather has 12 interceptions in 64 NFL games, 40 of which he started. He was a first-round Patriots pick in 2007. Which means he still is young enough to be good. Less clear is whether he is good enough to be good. For the Bears, he may need to be merely good enough to be second team. Well, you don’t want to set the bar too high, right?