Olin Kreutz’s recent ordeal on the Chicago Bears will have fans seething

Olin Kreutz had some things to say about the Chicago Bears offering him a job recently, and the details are sure to make Bears fans enraged. 

Olin Kreutz has been one of the best players for the Chicago Bears, playing center and dominating opposing defensive lines in the Windy City for 13 years.

However, he recently appeared on 670 The Score, and talked about a time when he was offered a job as an independent contractor with their offensive line. The details….will have Bears fans outraged at what went on behind the scenes at Halas Hall.

"“Harry Hiestand (the then-OL coach) wanted me to come in there and help with the offensive line development, help coach offensive line. I would only be there during player hours was my understanding. They offered me $15 an hour to come in there as like an independent contractor. That is exactly what they did. I saw Ryan Pace at camp in 2019 and he made a joke about it. He said, ‘I guess we could’ve done a little better than that, Olin.’ The answer is yes, you could’ve.”"

$15 an hour? Are you serious? This is not some 9-5 type of job. This is the NFL, players’ livelihoods depend on this, and the owners went the cheap route? This is so out of bounds on several levels, and it’s embarrassing.

What’s even more egregious is that they treated a former player like this, who is the embodiment of what the McCaskeys call “Bears Football.” You would think that a former player who was good would be treated better and at least given a good reason to consider, and Kreutz said no to the offer as he should have.

Olin Kreutz is correct; the Chicago Bears will never be good unless they change how they do business and handle their players.

Several former Bears players have been critical about how owners Virginia and George McCaskey and team president Ted Phillips run the organization. This ranges from the stadium design of Soldier Field, which has the lowest seating capacity in the league, to how they have ignored advice from former players, including Charles Tillman and Jerry Azumah.

But this takes the cake. This is pure negligence combined with outright disrespect as it amounts to an offer that resembles minimum wage. Kreutz was right to say no to the job, but it speaks volumes about how the Bears organization has been run and how they won’t modernize.

Unless things change, the Bears will be stuck in their old ways and will never reach the level of respect they want in the NFL. The problem starts at the top, and judging by how things are going now; it will be a long time before any progress is made.