Bear players met Friday to discuss what they will do next Tuesday in the event of a strike. ”We`ll stay together,” said player representative Mike Singletary, who added the team ”discussed a few possibilities of what to do” in case of a strike, but did not elaborate. It is believed that staying and playing against nonunion personnel is an option that was not discussed as a viable alternative.
”Basically, we`re just sitting back along with the other teams in the NFL and seeing what happens,” Singletary said. ”The things we discussed are where we stand on issues and what we want to do as a team. That`s basically to stay together.”
The Bears will have another team meeting Monday. ”I`m going to be optimistic until Tuesday, and then we`ll move on to something else,”
Singletary said.
Team officials kept busy contacting free agents to start playing on the fourth weekend. For the Bears` strike team, that would be against their Eagle counterparts in Philadelphia. A strike would wipe out the third week`s games, during which time teams presumably would distribute playbooks to the players they find off the streets.
Walter Payton returned to practice Friday despite a sprained ankle. Trainer Fred Caito said there was ”no reason to hold him out” of Sunday`s game in Soldier Field against Tampa Bay.
William Perry was back to his assigned weight of 315, down 10 pounds from Wednesday`s weigh-in, thus earning $1,000. ”Shows you can do anything you want in life,” said Caito, sounding like coach Mike Ditka.
