Mike Brown Is Likely Done This Season

Over the weekend I was talking to my friend Greg about the Bears, and he mentioned how much better the defense will be this season because Mike Brown is healthy. I agreed with him and said, "Well, it will be for three quarters anyway, before Mike gets hurt again."

He made it to the fourth quarter.

That's when Lorenzo Neal horse collared him (which I'm pretty sure is illegal now, though the refs didn't seem to mind) and threw him to the ground. Mike didn't get back up.

Instead he was helped off the field with what was diagnosed as a sprained knee. It's only sprained because they didn't have the time to run any tests on it. Odds are it won't be just a sprain for long.

After all, football players generally don't break down in tears after a game when describing their injuries, which is what Mike Brown did on Sunday.

But as Brown talked about the sprained left knee he suffered against the Chargers on Sunday, his mouth quivered. He broke down.

"We're holding out a little hope, but right now it doesn't look too good," Brown said. "It's a sprained knee right now, but it doesn't look too good. It's a shame. It hurts my feelings really bad."

Then Brown's emotions got the best of him. Teammate Charles Tillman waved the television cameras away so Brown could have his peace.

"I've never had to face anything like what he has faced, but definitely my heart goes out to him," Tillman said as Brown struggled to get dressed at the locker beside him.

This is a much worse start to the season now than it would have been had the Bears just lost the game. Tommie Harris got all the attention last season when he went out with an injury, because the Bears defense went to shit afterwards. What most people didn't notice was that the Bears defense had started to slip before Harris got hurt.

It started the week after Mike Brown was lost for the season in the Monday Night game in Arizona.

Brown is the only free safety on the Bears roster. That means somebody is going to be spending the rest of his season playing out of position.

Back to Brown. If he goes on IR, it will be the third time he's been on it in the last four years. This injury might not just end his season, it could cost him his career. Not the type of ending I was hoping for for one of my favorite Bears.