Report: Internal rift may have been reason Martellus Bennett missed game
Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett has reportedly been unhappy with his role in the team’s offense, and his frustration may have been the reason he missed last Thursday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.
Brad Biggs of The Chicago Tribune reports that Bennett acted out in frustration during practice last Tuesday because he has been angry over the way he is being used in red-zone packages. Not surprisingly, Bennett denies it.
“I wasn’t pissed off,” Bennett said. “I didn’t play last week.”
Bennett was listed as a full participant in practice the day he supposedly had an outburst. He was limited on Wednesday and did not travel with the team to Green Bay. As Biggs notes, Bennett suffered a rib injury in Chicago’s Nov. 22 loss to the Denver Broncos, though he did not miss a snap. He later said that he would have played if the game was on Sunday as opposed to Thursday.
When asked if Bennett is irritated with his role in the offense, Bears coach John Fox said he doesn’t care.
“You will have to ask him about that,” Fox said. “I don’t know. I don’t really care. I get upset too. I think he is one of the top-five targeted tight ends in the league.”
Bennett ranks fifth in the NFL for tight ends with 76 targets, but fellow tight end Zach Miller has caught four touchdown passes in the past four games. Adding to the speculation that Bennett is frustrated is his admission that he did not watch his team’s game against the Packers on television and instead waited for the film to be uploaded to his team-issued tablet.
Bennett has a history of internal rifts with the team, as he skipped OTAs last summer in an attempt to get a pay raise and once got into a fight with a teammate during practice. Between him, Matt Forte, Alshon Jeffery and Jay Cutler, the Bears should have one of the most dangerous offenses in the league. But if Bennett is causing problems behind the scenes, Fox doesn’t sound like he’s going to cave to the veteran’s demands.
