"One reason the Bears and running back Matt Forte were unable to find the ''middle ground'' in contract negotiations is that both sides had such a long way to get there.

Just before the regular season, the Bears' best offer to Forte was believed to be worth about $6 million per year, with $13 to $14 million guaranteed.

It's unclear how much Forte wanted, but Bears general manager Jerry Angelo noted in several instances during the preseason that Forte was not an unrestricted free agent.

In the NFL, a deal that averages about $6 million a season gets a running back closer to good than great. Consider that Steven Jackson and DeAngelo Williams get an average of $8.6 million on their latest deals, while Chris Johnson and Adrian Peterson average over $13 and $14 million, respectively. "