Like a lot of Bears, Charles Tillman’s entering the final year of his contract.
But the veteran cornerback said his mindset hasn’t changed because of it, and his goals remain the same.
“Just to make plays and help this team win and try to get us a parade down Michigan Avenue, . . . that’s the mindset that I have, whether this is my last year or whether I have three years left on my contract,” Tillman said, via Fred Mitchell of the Chicago Tribune. “It’s all the same. We just want to win a Super Bowl. At the end of the day, that’s what it is about.
“That’s how I am approaching this season. [General Manager] Phil Emery made the decision to hire a new coach so this coach could take us in the direction. My role as a player is to buy into that system and do whatever I can to help this team to win a Super Bowl. I think myself and the rest of the players have bought into coach [Marc] Trestman’s scheme and his system and we want to win and we want to win now. We’re not in a rebuild mode. We don’t have time to rebuild. We’re in the winning now business. The win RIGHT now business.”
With so many high-level contracts up, including quarterback Jay Cutler and franchise-tagged defensive tackle Henry Melton, the Bears are in an interesting spot. All of those deals are ones that Emery and Trestman inherited, and if the Bears don’t win right now, the organization might decide to part ways with a lot of veterans.
They already made one calculated business decision with linebacker Brian Urlacher this offseason, and if the results don’t come, that’s not a good sign for any of the long-time Bears looking for new deals.