Lance Briggs Knows Chicago Bears End Could Be Near

Lance Briggs knows and even seems to be partly predicting that this season will “probably be my last” as a member of the Chicago Bears.

The 33-year-old Briggs has spent all 11 of his NFL seasons with the Bears, and if this truly is to be his Chi-Town swan song he could have a lot of company heading out the door with him at season’s end given the way the team has so mightily struggled this year.

After being projected by some as potential Super Bowl contenders, the Bears have struggled to a 3-5 start. In so many ways, the team’s NFC North cellar-dwelling troubles have come to mirror the depths of Briggs’ injury-riddled campaign.

After missing only four games over the course of his first ten seasons, Briggs has already missed three this year nursing a rib injury and other nicks.

“I understand this is probably my last year as a Chicago Bear,” Briggs told the Chicago Tribune as the team prepared to face the rival and hated Packers at Lambeau Field this Sunday. “This could be the last time I play the Packers.”

A seven-time Pro Bowler and now on a list of esteemed Bears’ linebackers that also include Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary, Brian Urlacher and Otis Wilson, Briggs’ current deal expires this offseason and given the team’s struggles and those of his own who knows what might come next?

“I don’t know; I don’t know,” said Briggs when quizzed as to if he truly feels the end might be near and if he would be okay with such a sudden reality.

“Somebody’s got to want you first and then you go from there,” he added. “But right now, my focus is the Packers.”

[Photo Credit: Quinnanmatt]