In a week that saw Osi Umenyiorafinally smile over a contract offer from the New York Giants, Matt Forte is still waiting for the Chicago Bears to furnish the long-term deal he believes he deserves.
As we've mentioned, Forte could be waiting for a long time. The 26-year-old running back has been absent during Chicago's offseason workouts, but his teammates generally stand behind his quest for a new contract.
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"He isn't letting me down," linebacker Lance Briggstold Zach Zaidman of WSCR-AM in Chicago. "He isn't letting any of the teammates down because it's Matt's life."
Briggs cited his own frustrations with the Bears organization when he struggled to land a long-term deal in 2007. He offered the following advice to Forte: "Do what you believe. Because no one knows you like you. And no one's going to take care of you like you."
To outsiders, either Forte or the Bears are being unreasonable on the contract front, but the players understand. It's a battle they have or soon will face in their own careers. If the greenbacks don't come now, they might never come. Forte has missed only four games in his career -- he's a workhorse -- and we don't expect him to miss time this year. Here in June, however, his struggle continues.
