We Finally Know Why The Bears Never Made A Run At Taylor Decker
It felt like divine intervention. The Chicago Bears needed a left tackle. Ozzy Trapilo had torn up his knee in the playoffs and would miss significant time. The Detroit Lions didn’t want to pay Taylor Decker the rest of his expensive contract and decided to release him. Decker had played the best football of his career under Bears head coach Ben Johnson when he was the Lions’ offensive coordinator. It was the easiest connection in the world to make. All the Bears had to do was make an offer.
That is why it was a surprise when Chicago never seemed to make a serious push for Decker. Instead, they opted to re-sign Braxton Jones to a one-year deal and brought in former 1st-round pick Jedrick Wills to add some competition. People couldn’t understand what happened. Decker was such an obvious bridge solution. Was he demanding too much money? Is he retiring? Answers weren’t forthcoming.
Until now.
Justin Roger of Detroit Collective has delivered inside details on the fallout from Decker’s release by Detroit, including the bitterness involved. Apparently, the left tackle wants to play for a winner, but isn’t wild about the idea of joining the Bears.
“He wants to play for a winner. Yet he’s kind of thinking about, ‘Is it cheap to go win somewhere else after you’ve invested all your energy emotionally and physically into one franchise?’ I will tell you that he’s pretty anti-playing for the Bears or Packers. That’s the Lions background in him. I know Ben Johnson did it and that was the right situation for him, but Taylor feels kind of dirty about the idea. It just isn’t interesting to him. I could see him joining a team mid-season, the further he gets away from football and games being played, injuries happening and the right offer occurs. I could also see him not playing.”
The Taylor Decker situation is heartbreaking.
Here’s a man who dedicated his blood, sweat, and tears to dragging the Lions organization out of the mud and to respectability for the first time in decades. He was there for some dark times in the late 2010s. Yet his consistent, effective play was crucial to their turnaround in 2022, culminating in their run to the NFC Championship in 2023. Decker gave everything he had to the organization. He was rewarded with walking papers and not so much as a phone call from head coach Dan Campbell or GM Brad Holmes.
Yet even now, he can’t help but feel loyal to the organization. He spent a decade hating the Bears and Packers for obvious reasons. The three teams were eternally at odds in their efforts to win the division. That breeds inevitable resentment. Simply shrugging that off isn’t easy for a lot of players. They buy into an organization’s culture and identity. Sadly, way too often, that loyalty is not reciprocated. It is probably why more players these days are willing to play for rival teams.
Perhaps Johnson’s defection is a little more justified now.
It feels like Decker is closer to retirement at this point.
The longer he waits to sign with another team, the more likely it seems he doesn’t play in 2026. Maybe he changes his mind. The pull of football is always strong, and maybe an opportunity to join a Super Bowl-ready team opens up. Either way, it’s clear that the idea of him coming to Chicago is now dead. The Bears have already enacted a new plan. Jones and Wills were the first step. Some wonder whether the team may pursue another option in the draft, especially given that Trapilo’s long-term health is uncertain.
Taylor Decker deserves a better end to his career if this is it. He gave everything he had to that organization in Detroit. This treatment feels too close to what the Bears did with Brian Urlacher 13 years ago. It’s bad karma, if nothing else. Here is hoping he gets the last laugh in some way. Maybe he might change his mind about joining a rival. Coach Johnson has a magnetic pull on players. Getting a second chance to play in this offense might be the lure needed.