This one has been making the rounds this morning, but in case some of you haven't seen it, there is a report talking about some free agent signings this off season.

Based off of a Jerry Angelo interview the Bears had resigned to a potentail situation of either Bernard Berrian or Lance Briggs.  They were not giving up on either, but had Berrian signed the reported 5-year approximately 30 million dollar contract, they were not sure they'd be able to sign Lance Briggs.

''It would have been Berrian or Briggs,'' Angelo said. ''We made a decision. We tried to do Bernard; didn't work. It's not to say we couldn't have done Lance, but it made it easier.''

How you feel about this goes to your philosophy on football.  Some would look at this as bad thing, we have a bad offense and we let our most dangerous threat get away.  Others would see this from the stand point of be great on one side of the football and you will always be in the hunt.

Based on how Chicago at times handles signing free agents there is a popular theory that floats around every off season that the Bears are cheap.  This shows that they aren't so much cheap as they choose to take care of their own first and that they will not overpay a player.  Here is what they have spent on resigning players this off season:

Devin Hester: Signed 4-year extension worth as much as $40 million.

Brian Urlacher: Signed 1-year extension worth $18 million.

Tommie Harris: Signed 4-year extension worth as much as $40 million.

Robbie Gould: Signed 5-year extension worth $15.5 million.

Lance Briggs: Signed new 6-year, $36 million contract.

Rashied Davis: Signed new 3-year, $5.86 million contract.

Kyle Orton: Signed 1-year contract extension worth as much as $5 million.

Rex Grossman: Signed 1-year contract worth as much as $4.5 million.

Alex Brown: Signed 2-year extension worth $15.5 million.

Desmond Clark: Signed 2-year extension worth $6.5 million.

TOTAL: $186.9 million

Jay Glazer stirred up the pot as he seems to be doing a lot recently, when he reported that at least 10 Bears players tried to intentionally hurt Cedric Benson during training camp a few years back.  Ruben Brown did an interview where he wildly criticized the report .

"That sounds like a lot of mumbo-jumbo," the former Bears guard said. "Nobody does that anymore. We all respect each other's right to earn money. I mean, we're all trying to make it, and that makes no sense.

"You're saying Mike Brown, Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, outstanding stand-up people in the community and on the team, leaders of our team, wanted to go and hurt another teammate?

Typically it is not my style to go at a journalist for the sole reason that they dare say something negative about my team, I'll let other blogs handle that.  I did however want to this one out to you though, and ask what the hell  Pete Prisco was thinking.  Maybe it is just his way of getting people to point to this work like I am.

Every year he does an overrated/underrated player for each team.  Here is what he had to say about the Bears:

Overrated: C Olin Kreutz. He struggled in 2007 and looks to be in a major decline. The Bears need better play inside from him this season to get that running game going.

Underrated: DE Adewale Ogunleye. On a defense that features Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs and Tommie Harris, Ogunleye had an outstanding season with nine sacks in 2007.

I think somebody better start by defining overrated and underrated to Mr. Prisco.

Kruetz has been to the last 6 Pro Bowls.  Last year he had a bit of a down year, but when half your line sucks as does the play of QB and RB, can anybody on the team really have an up year?  That said, that one year makes him overrated?  I am sorry that not every player is Bruce Matthews and can play 17 seasons.  Everybody has to take a step back some time, and trust me I am not saying Kruetz is about to, in fact I think he will have a fantastic year this year, but the point is one non-outstanding year does not make someone overrated.

Adewale Ogunleye, underrated?  I guess you can say that, but I don't think that applies.  He probably used Hunter Hillenmeyer last year and just had to find a different name.  We got Ogunleye off a 15 sack performance with the Miami Dolphins.  He hasn't returned to those numbers, so while yes it is easy to get overshadowed with Urlacher, Briggs and Harris, he just wasn't consistent.  It was really only half way through last year that he started playing dominant football.  We all hope he can keep that up.  I suppose that half a season was enough to make the list.

So as early as a week ago and as late as yesterday everybody from papers to blogs to teammates were sure that MLB Brian Urlacher would skip the Bears mandatory camp.  As it turns out he is going to attend the three-day practice .

Fellow linebacker Lance Briggs was certain Urlacher would be absent come Friday. Briggs was prepared to wear Urlacher's No. 54 jersey as a show of support.

"I'm surprised, but it's a happy surprised," Briggs said Thursday. "It's good to have your big brother back.

"I don't think this thing should have got to the point where it is right now. Brian needs to be taken care of, period. He's irreplaceable."

This could mean the Bears and Urlacher have spoken and are close to a deal, so Urlacher is getting back to business.  It could also be a good will gesture on Urlacher's part.

Though it has been hinted at by Brian Uralcher himself and a few others it has been made official, through Lance Briggs? that the middle linebacker will no show madatory mini camp because he is unhappy with his contract.

He is subject to fine based on this:

While the fine can total only $8,165, more than $5.7 million is potentially at stake if Urlacher boycotts minicamp. That represents the pro-rated portion remaining on the $13 million signing bonus he received with his nine-year, $56.65 million contract extension in 2003. As in all NFL player contracts, there's specific signing bonus forfeiture language in Urlacher's contract. If he's in default by missing a mandatory activity, the club could choose to deal with him in similar fashion to the way the Denver Broncos pursued fines and forfeitures with AWOL wide receiver Ashley Lelie two summers ago.

Much like Brian Urlacher did when he was going through his contract dispute with the  Chicago Bears, Lance Briggs has spoken his support for what Urlacher is going through.

'I can relate [to Urlacher's situation] because I've been there,'' Briggs said. ''I know what Brian has meant to this organization and this city. That alone, and he being my big brother, I'll support him to the end. I think whatever is going on between him and the Bears will be worked out.''

At this point management doesn't care what Lance Briggs thinks.  If Urlacher or Kruetz or somebody whose voice management might listen to speaks up, that is great, but I can promise you if Briggs is unhappy the Bears consider it par for the course.

I assume this is more just him returning the favor, I hear they are good friends off the field.  I guess it also is good for locker room moral when your better players look out for everybody.

Ahhhhhhh! Now it makes sense.  I was originally mad at Bears linebacker Lance Briggs for holding out of voluntary mini camps, because he is unhappy with the deal he just signed.  As it turns out Briggs really, really needs the money.

It seems there are a number of little Briggs running around.

Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs is close to settling a high-profile paternity claim filed against him, but his baby mama drama may just be starting.

In court Wednesday, Briggs' ex-girlfriend Brittini Tribbett, 21, again pleaded for Briggs to provide adequate emotional and financial support for their baby girl, while another pregnant woman stood by, listening to talk of how she's set to deliver a Briggs baby.

Recently I found I've been trying to figure out just whose side I'm on in this whole deal with the Bears and Brian Urlacher's new contract demands, so I thought I would list out each side and see where it stands.  If you have some that I missed let me know and we can add them to the list.

Pro-Urlacher

1) Brian Urlacher, even injured, is still one of the better line backers in this league.  Healthy it is hard to say he isn't the best.  He is the prototype linebacker for running any form of the Cover-2.  Shouldn't he deserve to be paid as a top 3 linebacker?

2) Lance Briggs just got paid.  Tommie Harris is going to break the bank and PK Robbie  Gould just signed the richest deal ever shelled out to a kicker.  Shouldn't the face of the franchise be taken care of?

3) The doctors say Urlachers is 100% healthy.  That should not be used as a factor in deciding how much he is worth.

4) The salary cap has risen substantially since he signed his deal.  It was 75 million when he signed and 116 now.  Surely they have enough room to offer him something.

Pro-Bears

1) Bears management and coaching staff believe this team still can contend, so long as they take care of the import pieces that need taken care of.  See Harris, Gould and Hester.  Right now they don't need to be dealing with a guy who still has 4 years left on his contract.

2) Urlacher signed a 9 year deal.  His agent and he knew that the salary cap would be higher moving into the future.  If they wanted to cash in again they should have worked a smaller 5 year deal and they revisit the contract in the offseason.

3) Urlacher has 4 years left on the deal.  Why should they Bears have to rework his deal so soon?

4) Regardless of what doctors say, until Urlacher goes through a full season of grinding and being hit, with no ill affects from his injuries you never know how he will hold up.

5) The Bears offered him an additional year to his current contract.  The extension would have contained an additional 5 million up front, an additional 1 million for the next 4 years and the extended 5th year would have paid him a base pay of 9 million.  That sounds like a fair deal.

Strictly by the numbers it looks and feels like the Bears are in the right here.  I am not saying that Urlacher shouldn't be allowed to ask for a raise or even that he doesn't deserve it, but the one thing Bears management has been able to do is win the public perception vote.  They took a hit during the Lovie Smith contract situation, but that was only because Smith outplayed them by keeping quite, but overall the players who want more from the Bears always tend to look like whiny brats.

The Bears have issues like their inability to properly handle our QB situation or their unwillingness to let go of an offensive coordinator who isn't very good, but the one overriding thing they always do well is take care of their own so long as the money is there and they player isn't asking for more than he is worth.