Chris Harris RELEASED (signs with Detroit)

[Chewie]

From starter last week to the wire. Odd. The tape on the Bucs game must have not been kind to Harris.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/chi-bears-release-veteran-safety-chris-harris-20111027,0,4423702.story

The Chicago Bears have parted ways with veteran strong safety Chris Harris.

Multiple sources told the Tribune that Harris was released Thursday morning. He started in the Bears' 24-18 victory over Tampa Bay in London with Major Wright nursing a hip injury.

Harris confirmed the news via a tweet: "I was just released this morning by the Bears. Thank u for the opp to play football n do what I luv. I'm looking toward my next venture"

Harris told the Tribune he did not ask to be released.

Harris was benched after a poor performance in a Monday night loss to the Lions and was inactive for he following game against the Vikings. He then asked permission to seek a trade, and the Bears granted the request. But Harris decided to finish the season with the Bears after talking with management.

It appears the Bears could sign Tom Nelson, a Hersey graduate who played at Illinois State, to replace Harris. Nelson was one of six players and two safeties to get a tryout at Halas Hall on Wednesday. According to a source, he performed better than former Denver Broncos’ second-round draft pick Darcel McBath, who didn’t run well.

[heir_jordan22]

I was afraid of this. Clearly they weren't going to re-sign him at the end of the season. That's why when he was injured they decided to go with COnte and Wright, the two young guns, and see if they can be the safeties of the future. Gave Harris another shot and decided they wanna go young/athletic/cheap at safety.

Wright and Conte better impress me against the Eagles.

[emperorjones]

Absolutely baffling.

So Meriweather backs up the SS and Steltz the free?

I don't understand why they didn't keep him around for insurance purposes?!?!?

[chitownsports4ever]

Wow talk about crazy . They have basically put the spotlight on Conte and Wright for the rest of the season now .

[Icness]

He wanted out. He's not going to say anything to that sort now, but he demanded a trade because he knew he was the #4 safety and wanted to get more playing time. And he is a guy prone to a lot of backseat coaching and locker room politicking.

I like the move to play the youngsters, it's the only way they're going to get better and with all the draft picks Angelo has used on DBs lately the Bears cannot afford to just let them wither.

The bright side is the player brought in, Jabara Williams. I really liked him coming out of SFA, very natural Cover 2 Will backer. Real fast, real aggressive. His legs look like pencils and he's not real strong, but IMO he's worth a long look playing behind and learning from Briggs.

[The Explorer]

And he is a guy prone to a lot of backseat coaching and locker room politicking.

Details, please? How was he backseat coaching? He seemed to be very well liked by his teammates. Urlacher has some nice things to say about him. DJ Moore seemed upset.

[TNBT]

I don't know a huge amount about the complexities of American football, but I thought Harris was doing ok this season. Was I completely off-base?

[The Explorer]

I don't know a huge amount about the complexities of American football, but I thought Harris was doing ok this season. Was I completely off-base?

He was pretty bad. It looked like he definitely lost a step, as he was very slow to react - see the touchdown pass to Briscoe last week. His strength was always against the run, but this year, he was taking terrible angles, which led to long runs. See the run by Jahvid Best. He was just bad this year. On top of that, he wanted out by asking for a trade, so it seems to me that the decision was easy for Lovie/Angelo to make.

[TNBT]

Ahhh, I see. How good are/could these young guys that have been mentioned be?

[heir_jordan22]

I think we should have kept him for insurance purposes. If the Bears really wanted to sign Jabara Williams they could have cut Mario Addison, who for some reason is on the roster but is never on the field. Maybe we will cut him to make room for TO????? Wishful thinking

[Icness]

And he is a guy prone to a lot of backseat coaching and locker room politicking.

Details, please? How was he backseat coaching? He seemed to be very well liked by his teammates. Urlacher has some nice things to say about him. DJ Moore seemed upset.

That was why he left Chicago the first time. He's one of those guys that just doesn't know when to stop talking. Always yapping with little comments here and there, during film room and meetings and stuff like that. There is a fine line between being a respected leader and being seen as annoying, and Harris crossed that line a few times. I know that once the inital shock of his departure in Carolina was over they had a much happier, more unified locker room.

I can't speak for what went down in Chicago the past couple weeks, but in Carolina he sort of adopted Sherrod Martin as his own personal project. The coaches were trying to teach Martin how to shade a tight end without ceding the deep outside in zone coverage. Harris undermined the coaches and said something to the effect of "worry about the tight end, the corners get paid to cover the wideouts, and you can sprint to the ball on longer throws." The irony is that Haris himself was lousy at doing precisely what he was telling Martin to do.

[Todd3]

Harris was claimed by the Lions. Ironic that his first game will likely be @ CHI playing for the Lions.

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

Harris was claimed by the Lions. Ironic that his first game will likely be @ CHI playing for the Lions.

I was one of the people wishing that he would come back from injury earlier this season & save the day for our struggling Defense. After witnessing his return & subsequent failure, I was shocked at his poor play. I didn't pile on when he demanded a trade a few weeks ago, but now he's pissed me off. From my view, he forced the Bears to release him & he then proceeds to sign with the Lions....a divisional foe. That move by him was wormy, so F*** you Chris Harris.

[heir_jordan22]

Harris was claimed by the Lions. Ironic that his first game will likely be @ CHI playing for the Lions.

I was one of the people wishing that he would come back from injury earlier this season & save the day for our struggling Defense. After witnessing his return & subsequent failure, I was shocked at his poor play. I didn't pile on when he demanded a trade a few weeks ago, but now he's pissed me off. From my view, he forced the Bears to release him & he then proceeds to sign with the Lions....a divisional foe. That move by him was wormy, so F*** you Chris Harris.

+1
Worse than what Kreutz did.

[mehta29]

Harris was claimed by the Lions. Ironic that his first game will likely be @ CHI playing for the Lions.

I was one of the people wishing that he would come back from injury earlier this season & save the day for our struggling Defense. After witnessing his return & subsequent failure, I was shocked at his poor play. I didn't pile on when he demanded a trade a few weeks ago, but now he's pissed me off. From my view, he forced the Bears to release him & he then proceeds to sign with the Lions....a divisional foe. That move by him was wormy, so F*** you Chris Harris.

+1
Worse than what Kreutz did.

Forced the bears to release him? He might have wanted out, but he didn't/couldn't force anyone's hand. He asked for a trade because he went from starter to inactive after being a valuable contributor last year.

Also, he was claimed off of waivers by the Lions. Meaning he and the rest of his contract this year were transferred to the them. He didn't freely choose to sign with them.

I'm surprised and at the same time not surprised re: his backseat coaching (see his twitter). If lovie smith thought he was negatively impacting the younger safeties I could see the rationale in the move.

I'm more confused about:

1) Frank Omiyale still having a job. He must have nude pictures of someone pretty high up.

2) Lovie saying he COULDN'T play special teams. Through all of this, Chris Harris at least handled it professionally and I don't see why not try him (or meriweather...well given his propensity to decapitate, maybe not) on special teams.

Next week will be a definite crash course against Vick and the philly offense. Hope Lovie's decision pays off.

[Chewie]

Agree on Omiyale.

Under Lovie, if you're not starting you better be capable of playing ST. Chris Harris' fragile nature just makes that impossible to even try.

I have no problem with him signing with the Lions. If you're out of a job you roll with whoever is going to take you. And if I'm in Harris' shoes, I'd *especially* want to go with a divisional rival.