Starting around noon on Sunday, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for the Chicago Bears.
But things took a strange turn (well, stranger than usual) at Halas Hall on Monday when reporters overheard players arguing in a nearby hallway. And while details were scarce after the original report, things came to light on Wednesday afternoon when WGN’s Adam Hoge shared this tweet:
Tre McBride and Josh Bellamy were the two primary players involved in Monday’s argument, per multiple sources. Obviously one player is still on the roster and the other is not. McBride was waived Tuesday. As for Bellamy, he was not in the locker room today for comment.
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) November 29, 2017
So we have an argument between two players, one of whom was booted from the team one day after it goes down.
The Bears waived McBride on Tuesday in somewhat of a surprising move. Not only is the team short on talent at wide receiver, but Chicago also used its prime position on the waiver wire to claim the 24-year-old wide receiver off waivers before the season started. If you’ll recall, the Bears had the third waiver claim when teams trimmed their rosters from 90 to 53, and the Bears used one of their waiver claims on McBride – who they took a good look at during their preseason win against the Tennessee Titans. All things considered, the argument must have been something for the Bears to part ways with a player who was a waiver wire priority at a position of need.
McBride played in eight games with the Bears, made three starts, caught eight passes, and gained 144 yards. He played on at least 52 percent of the team’s offensive snaps in five of the last seven games, including a season-high 78.2 percent against the Eagles on Sunday.
If not for the argument with Bellamy at Halas Hall, it’s worth wondering whether McBride would still be on the team.
This is what 3-8 looks like.