Let's live in reality here.
- Devin had 1 catch last night. One. Against what is probably the worst team in the NFL. And he had the sweep TD. Sometimes that play works, sometimes it doesn't. It wasn't so much a testament to Devin, but rather the awfulness that is TB. It was a 20 yard run and he was not even touched. That's pathetic on TB.
- He had 1 catch for 2 yards last week against a good Cinci D. One.
- He had two good returns last night. The first wouldn't have happened if not for both a hold and a clip on the same play. Of course the return, which was great and vintage Devin.
- For all of the drama of that great return last night, you know the Falcons will be getting a few fumbles, a couple of misjudged fair catches, a bakers dozen of 'catch ball, run backwards, lose field position' and a nice sampling of 'field kick in end zone, wait 9 seconds, run out, get tackled at the 9'.
- For $3M a year.
It is what it is. Players sometimes do better with a change of scenery (Carson Palmer, Marshall Faulk, etc). The REALITY is that Devin was a shell of his former self over the last 3-4 seasons as a Bear:
- More fumbles than TD returns. 10 fumbles vs. 4 returns over 4 seasons.
- Terrible decision making resulting in a drives starting deep (particularly on fair catches). Hell, he had two goofy looking fair catches last night after the return. With a struggling offense under Lovie/Tice/etc, that was something they just couldn't endure.
- WR - let's face it, Devin was a mess as a WR. Never knowing where to line up. Never knowing where to go. The Bears having to burn time outs as a result. Under Lovie, you could count on a 'Devin Brain Fart' time out and a bad Lovie Challenge time out - giving the Bears one for the half. Again, he had 1 catch last night. He had 1 catch for 2 yards against a good Cinci D. You saw Devin's lack of WR acumen on the deep ball. He slowed up his route looking for the ball. A good WR keeps running and catches that for a TD. We saw that many times with Devin.
- Returner - let us not forget that Devin was actually benched as a return man. Benched. For bad decisions and fumbles.
Happy to see him get the record (even though he already got it against MN because the record was re-writted for Deion). Disappointed in the unnecessary breaking bad on the Bears - a team that paid him - a return man - as a #1 WR.
The Bears had tremendous holes to fill on offense (line in particular) in the 2012 off season. They had the same on the defensive side of the ball this offseason. They simply could not afford the luxury of spending $3M on a return specialist who will be 32 in a few weeks and would effectively touch the ball 4-6 times a game. That man was (and is) better spent elsewhere. Every team has to make these sort of decisions every year - big salary v. return on investment v. age.
