For nearly 10 minutes Tuesday, Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson spoke like a contrite man from a podium at Halas Hall.
Neatly dressed in a black blazer over a black-and-white open-collared shirt, he apologized to the Bears organization, his teammates, his fans and his family for being a distraction.
He hit the high points of the self-help checklist he’d submitted in writing to Bears executives earlier Tuesday spelling out the ways he has vowed to straighten out his jagged life.
He acknowledged that a decision he made Friday night would haunt him the rest of his life: Johnson ignored Bears general manager Jerry Angelo’s directive to clean up his act and instead went to a River North nightclub, where best friend Willie Posey was shot to death after a fight with a patron.
Each sentence Johnson recited, slowly and methodically, oozed with sincerity as he thanked the Bears for providing a second chance. They suspended him for Sunday’s game against Detroit instead of releasing him, as had been discussed.
“It’s going to be actions; it’s nothing I can say,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be me showing and proving to my teammates and the people who supported me through all this, through me losing my best friend, me going through some tough times at home. It’s going to be me coming to work and working hard and being a responsible man and stepping up to the plate and getting the job done.”
The saga that overshadowed the Bears stretching their record to 12-2 and clinching home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs began with police raiding Johnson’s Gurnee home Thursday and finding six guns and marijuana. Misdemeanor charges were brought against Johnson for failing to have a firearm owner’s identification card, and Posey was charged with felony marijuana possession.
Less than 48 hours later, Posey was shot to death within feet of Johnson at the Ice Bar on North Clark Street.
Angelo, coach Lovie Smith, team President Ted Phillips and members of the McCaskey family that owns the team discussed disciplinary options.
Angelo indicated that some voices within the organization initially called for Johnson’s termination. But eventually the Bears reached a consensus that Johnson was worth saving and that the team shared a responsibility to provide a tight structure around a player who appears to need one.
Johnson, 25, helped convince them by suggesting he undergo counseling. Persuasive appeals from Johnson’s parents, Terry Sr. and Brenda, who flew in from Arizona, also helped.
“He’s made some unbelievable changes,” Angelo said. “I’m not going to get into specifics, but they’re certainly going to be life-altering.
“It won’t be easy, and I told Tank this: We’re not looking for perfection, we’re looking for progress. That’s important. It starts with being remorseful, which he is, and he understands the big picture now.”
In the big picture of the NFL season, the Bears’ chances to win the Super Bowl improve significantly with Johnson in the middle of a defensive line already depleted by the loss of Pro Bowl player Tommie Harris. But Angelo, in a declaration that skeptics will challenge at barstools and over the airwaves, insisted that the decision to keep Johnson “was not based on the playoffs.”
“It was never brought up that we need this guy on the field to help us win,” Angelo said. “It’s about him.”
The suspension will cost Johnson $25,000, equivalent to 1/17th of his annual salary. According to NFL rules, the maximum the Bears could keep Johnson inactive was four games, and not until Tuesday did the NFL sign off on their proposed discipline.
Johnson still could face a penalty from the league under its personal conduct policy for the misdemeanor gun charges, but a source close to Johnson indicated those could be dropped because the weapons were registered in Arizona, where he is a legal resident.
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POLL POSITION
Chicagosports.com asked visitors: Tank Johnson’s 1-game suspension is …
61.4% — Suitable punishment
24.2% — Too lenient
4.5% — Too harsh
9.9% — They should have cut him
