It appears as if the standoff between Matt Forte and the Chicago Bears is only getting started. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, as reported on Sportscenter and relayed by Pro Football Talk, Forte is refusing to sign any contract offer that isn't a long-term deal, and that includes the $7.7 million franchise tag tendered to him by the Bears this off-season.
That means that Forte is almost certainly going to miss the team's voluntary offseason workouts, which begin this coming Monday, and he may miss Chicago's mandatory June minicamp and possibly even some games into the season depending on how serious both sides are in sticking to their guns. Forte has famously been pleading for a long-term deal for much of the past year and change, and though the Bears say that they have made him a long-term offer, the details of that offer have not been disclosed to the public, and obviously Forte has yet to agree to the terms.
The longer that Forte holds out, the bigger the spotlight will get on free agent acquisition Michael Bush, who was jokingly nicknamed by many as the "Matt Forte Insurance Policy." But as the negotiations between Forte and the Bears trudge along, that moniker will get more and more serious.
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