Chicago Bears Continue One Of Their Oddest Traditions

The Chicago Bears have many traditions that are easy to get behind. They love to play great defense. Bad weather equals good weather. Violence is encouraged. The list goes on. However, certain other traditions continue to bring nothing but confusion. One that most fans may not know about is the team’s ongoing unwillingness to sign players from other leagues. This goes back to the 1980s with the original United States Football League.

While several NFL teams were drafting players from it after the league folded in 1986, the Bears signed only one player. That was New Jersey Generals quarterback Doug Flutie. Since then, the organization has gone silent every time a similar opportunity arises. The original XFL in 2001? Nope. The Alliance of American Football in 2019? No sir. Maybe the second version of the XFL in 2020? Again, no. Now the second iteration of the USFL has concluded its first season. Multiple players from the league have joined teams like Dallas, Las Vegas, Arizona, New England, Pittsburgh, and Washington.

Once again, Chicago is nowhere to be found.

Chicago Bears are strangely reluctant on this.

They’ve signed players from everywhere else, including the Canadian Football League. It is difficult to understand why they don’t at least take calculated risks on players from these springs league. History shows that teams can benefit from such fliers. Pittsburgh signed XFL MVP Tommy Maddox in 2002. He led them to the playoffs that year. While the leagues might not be rich in talent, they can be great places for players to blossom the NFL might’ve missed.

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Considering the questions of depth across the Chicago Bears roster, one would think they’d be interested in adding more players that have gotten valuable playing experience over the past few months. Several wide receivers shined in the new USFL. Give one of them a shot to compete. Maybe there’s an offensive lineman that fits their new offense. The point is there have to be one or two players from that league who are better than one or two at the bottom of this roster.