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FORTE SHOULD COME BACK FOR HIS TEAMMATES

By Jon Greenberg
ESPNChicago.com
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Matt Forte doesn't have to come back this season. There are four games left and he has a knee injury and no contract extension. Forte's knees are his most valuable commodity, and losing his burst would be like throwing away a lottery ticket. After all, every collision is like a car wreck. Every hit represents a ticking clock.

But professional football isn't a logical endeavor. Forte is a team player and he will try to come back. He should try to come back. I don't think Forte is too concerned about legacy or reputation right now. He just wants his health and his money. But there is something to be said about toughing out an injury and playing beyond expectations. Forte did that in 2009, when he played most of the season with a similar, but lesser, knee injury. For him to give in now, to pack up the season, would be a selfish choice.

Yes, the Bears management was selfish, to a degree, by not negotiating a contract extension closer to market value, and Forte's performance after tabling talks in the preseason have proved his worth isn't self-inflated. Call me hokey, but Forte should play to help his teammates and cement his legacy as a football player to be admired.

I believe Forte when he intimates that he's trying hard to come back this season. He's taken a platelet rich plasma injection, he's doing his rehab. He's even thinking of using Tommie Harris' old hyperbaric chamber.

I'm not a rah-rah guy by nature, but the locker room isn't just a false construct of camaraderie. Forte cares about his teammates, he wants this team to make the playoffs, and frankly, he wants his numbers. As long as he feels 100 percent, or close to it, he said he wants to get back on the field this season.

"I'm at 997 (yards) rushing," he told me Tuesday night. "To be three yards away from 1,000 kind of sucks not to be able to be out there."

Whether it's yards or responsibility, Forte's goal should be to finish the season with his helmet on and his conscience clear.

Jon Greenberg is a columnist for ESPNChicago.com.

FORTE SHOULD BE SMART, LET HIS KNEE HEAL

By Melissa Isaacson
ESPNChicago.com
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It's not Matt Forte's fault that the Bears find themselves in the position they do, and that rushing back from his knee injury might -- might -- help them preserve a playoff spot.

It's also not about what we wish Forte would do, swooping in to save the Bears' season.

Forte would not be getting back at the Bears for not meeting his contract demands if he were to decide to take the rest of the season to recover from a Grade 2 MCL sprain.

He would be smart.

Why should Forte put his career -- and yes, his next contract -- in jeopardy by returning to the lineup too soon and risking further injury? In Forte's case, the Grade 2 sprain is a slight tear of his medial collateral ligament, and it could tear further if he does not allow it to heal adequately.

If Forte were a lineman, maybe two weeks out would be enough to perform adequately. Maybe even a straight-ahead runner like Marion Barber could return a bit sooner. But not a back like Forte, who relies on sharp cuts and change of speeds.

Let us also remember that as talented and versatile as Forte is, his presence without Jay Cutler does not exactly guarantee a Bears victory (see: Oakland, when Forte only had 12 carries for 44 yards).

The Bears have other problems on offense and in running the offense, and it's not Forte's responsibility to risk further injury in order to cover that up. It's not Forte's fault that they need him so badly.

And it's not his fault if the Bears finally realize they need him that badly.

Melissa Isaacson is a columnist for ESPNChicago.com.