The Sports Xchange

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — When defensive end Ray McDonald was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence and child endangerment Monday, the Chicago Bears had no option but to release the free-agent pickup because he was forewarned about more off-the-field trouble.

Still, the Bears are squirming and uncomfortable in the wake of the McDonald incident.

“The overriding emotion for me was sadness,” Bears chairman of the board George McCaskey said Wednesday after the team’s OTA workout. “Sadness for the child, for the child’s mother and for the entire situation.

“Domestic violence is a vexing social problem. The NFL has had some high-profile cases, including this one, and the NFL because it’s a leader in a society is called upon to take action, which we are doing.”

Only McCaskey, among team officials, addressed the media about the situation. Bears coaches are not available during organized team activities and general manager Ryan Pace wasn’t made available.

McCaskey interviewed McDonald before allowing Pace to proceed with the signing of the player. But McCaskey said he left it to Pace and didn’t get involved when McDonald was released.

“I wasn’t involved because I didn’t need to be,” McCaskey said. “They knew what needed to be done and did it.”

The effect on the team’s salary cap from the signing is nil. There was no guaranteed money involved in the $1.5 million deal that McDonald signed for this year, but there was an impact on the roster and plans for the defensive line.

McDonald had experience with the 49ers playing in Vic Fangio’s defensive scheme. Fangio figured prominently in McDonald coming to Chicago.

At Wednesday’s OTA, the Bears were left with a 3-4 front that included Jeremiah Ratliff at left end, Will Sutton at nose tackle and Ego Ferguson at right end. Rookie nose tackle Eddie Goldman was with the second team and it’s likely he would figure prominently in the mix at nose tackle in training camp.

Asked if the team could have pursued another free agent for one of the end spots on the three-man front if it hadn’t signed McDonald, McCaskey said, “Not aware of anything like that.”

McCaskey said Pace’s status as the new general manager hasn’t been diminished in his eyes because of the signing and release of McDonald.

“Not at all,” he said. “We have complete confidence in Ryan.”

The actual impact within the locker room is negligible because McDonald was only with the team a few months.

From a football standpoint, players realized what a damaging blow it was for a team trying to find as many two-gap defensive linemen as possible.

“My first initial thought was ‘man, we could have used him on defense,'” running back Matt Forte said. “He’s used to being in the 3-4 defense and that’s what we’re switching to, so I felt bad that we weren’t going to have him.”

Then again, Forte said character matters.

“That’s all you want in the locker room is character guys because you get a character guy and he makes the team better — it’s not only about himself,” Forte said. “He wants to produce and he wants everybody else to be successful, too. So he’s going to bring everybody up.”

McDonald’s departure had been met with a “good riddance” from guard Kyle Long.

Ultimately, the most damage done was to the organization’s reputation for gambling on a player with such problems.

McCaskey was asked if he had thought to interview past alleged victims of McDonald before signing him.

“I thought a lot about that, not just before signing him, but since,” McCaskey said. “One of my concerns was the bias that anybody has in that situation. An alleged victim wants to make sure that charges are filed. An alleged perpetrator is doing everything he can to make sure charges aren’t filed.

“That was part of it. But a larger concern to me was that I didn’t want to interfere with any criminal investigation or with any league investigation by talking to the child’s mother.”

Of note, this was the same team that in the past endured the Tank Johnson fiasco and a fight among players at an FBI shooting range that led to injuries, although different people were in charge at the time.

McCaskey said the team hopes to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

“It’s something that we certainly don’t want to see, don’t welcome it,” he said. “We understand that it’s going to happen from time to time, so we try to minimize it and handle it the best we can and the most straightforward manner when it happens.”

McCaskey said the system is in place to avert such instances.

“Ryan came to me for permission (to sign McDonald),” McCaskey said. “So we have the reinforcement of that process. I just need to make a better decision.”