"Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye (I die a little)... So Long Olin Kreutz

After 13 years of snapping the ball for the Chicago Bears offense, Olin Kreutz is considering retirement after rejecting the Bears 1 year offer of $4 million ($2 million less than he made last year). Olin wasn't just a consistent starting center for the Bears, he was also the offensive line playcaller, and the primary leader of the team's offense over the past decade. He was respected and revered in the Bears locker room for his leadership abilities and his overall toughness, playing in more games (183) than any Bear in history not named Walter Payton (184), and the move obviously didn't go over extremely well in the Bears locker room. Bears safety and prolific tweeter Chris Harris summed up the overall feeling among Kreutz's former teammates by tweeting "Olin Kreutz departure won't sit well in the locker room for a few days #realtalk" and "In my 7 yr NFL career Olin Kreutz is the toughest player I have EVER played with #PERIOD"

I think a lot of Bears fans will share similar sentiments, fans have always loved Olin because as Bears guard stated, "He stands for what a Chicago Bear is. Tough. Hard-nosed football player. He made his teammates better." Bears fans love those tough players who will grind it out and play through pain, and this same rationale contributes to the reason that Jay Cutler is generally disliked in Chicago after he wouldn't play through a torn ligament in the NFC Championship game last year. The problem with this rationale is that it overlooks the talent of the player in question. I've always loved Kreutz because he's consistent and fans, coaches, and front office workers have known what to expect from Olin for the last decade. The problem is that the 34 year-old Kreutz has 13 years of NFL mileage on him, and he's not getting any younger or quicker, and primary goals of the Chicago Bears shouldn't be to be the most loyal team in the league, but to win as many championships as possible.

There are times when a player's performance and contributions to a franchise cannot be overlooked, and those players need to be rewarded even if their skills are declining. A couple examples of this idea working out in the proper manner are Derek Jeter's most recent large contract, or more locally, the White Sox continuing to reward Paul Konerko for what he's done for the Sox franchise (fortunately Paulie continues to produce regardless of age). One example of this concept being completely mismanaged is the way Frank Thomas and the White Sox parted ways. Unfortunately Olin Kreutz does not reside in the class of the 3 athletes I mentioned. I will always appreciate Olin's consistency and toughness that he brought to the Bears franchise for 13 years, however his shortcomings shouldn't be overlooked, and the certainly shouldn't cloud the judgement of the front office and prompt them to reward Olin with a crippling franchise. While Jerry Angelo and the Bears front office make a lot of questionable decisions, cutting ties with Olin was not one of them.

Olin was ranked 33rd last year in terms of efficiency among NFL centers according to profootballtalk.com (meaning a backup performed better than he did). Olin called the shots for a historically bad offensive line that allowed their quarterback to get sacked 9 times in a half against the Giants. The offensive line that was supposed to protect Jay Cutler allowed Cutler to get sacked 52 times in 15 games, and the beating that Jay took contributed to his injury that directly affected the Bears exit from the season in the NFC Championship Game against the Packers. Kreutz also allegedly complained about snapping the ball out of a shotgun formation during his tenure with the Bears, limiting their playcalling ability. The Bears never won a Superbowl with Olin manning center and acting as the locker room leader. With all of these things in mind, it was time for the Bears and Kreutz to part ways, and while I wish Olin the best, I was happy to see the Bears agree to terms with former Seahawks center Chris Spencer.

This whole scenario made me question what it takes for a player to essentially gain tenure; what does a player need to do to earn a comfortable contract and the right to play until he decides to hang it up, even if he's a bit past his prime? To me it boils down to a combination of 3 factors:

1. Performance - Obviously a player's performance is paramount to how that player should be received and respected, and it's no different than any profession; if you're reliably good at your job over a long period of time, you will be respected and should be rewarded. Frank Thomas is a great example of this factor, he turned in 16 phenomenal years with the Chicago White Sox and is one of 8 players with 500 career home runs and a career batting average over .300, and he's the 11th player to win back to back MVPs. His performance, among other contributions to the franchise, should have earned him the right to play with the White Sox however long he wanted, at a reasonable salary. Unfortunately things didn't go this way with Thomas, as he and GM Kenny Williams exchanged harsh words before the Big Hurt left for the Oakland A's, and when Thomas said he didn't like how his 16-year run with the Sox ended, Williams fired back by calling Thomas an "idiot." Thomas naturally went on to finish 4th in the AL MVP voting in 2006 with Oakland, but fortunately relations between Frank and the Sox have been mended, as the White Sox unveiled a statue in honor of the Big Hurt on Sunday, but because there never should have been those issues with the performance that Thomas brought to the south side for 16 years.

2. Contribution to the Franchise- This one is a little more vague, but still pretty easy to calculate with a little thought. If you ask yourself "How would this franchise be affected if the player in question never played for this franchise?" and you determine that the franchise would be drastically affected, it's probably a good indicator. For example, Paul Konerko has been the face of the Sox franchise for a decade now as a consistent leader (similar to Kreutz), but Paulie has also backed it up with his performance, and has led the Bears to a World Series and multiple divisional championships/playoff appearances.

2 Guys in the 3k hit club. Glad I found this pic.

3. Championships - This is far and away the most important factor. Paulie gained some slack when he led toe White Sox to a World Series title in 2005, but the best example of this factor is Derek Jeter. Despite the opinion of any scout or sabermatrician that Jeter's skills are significantly declining in the last few years, he was awarded with a 3-year $51 million dollar contract, and it was justified. Jeter has captained 5 different World Championship teams for the Yankees. Enough said.

When you factor in Jeter's performance (3,000 hits, 5 Gold Gloves, one of the most clutch performers in the history of the game), his contribution to the franchise (the captain and face of the Yankees for the last 15 years, in addition to being a model citizen and role model), in addition to the 5 championships, the Yankees did the right thing by overpaying to keep Jeter; the man earned it. Olin Kreutz has meant a lot to the Bears for the last 13 years. However, he hasn't brought any championships to Chicago, and the performance has been not been up to par the last few years. Meatloaf once sang "2 out of 3 ain't bad," but 1 out of 3 won't cut it Olin. Bears fans wish you the best in the future and appreciate your contributions, but it's time to move on.