Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
4. End of an Era
There are 26 guys on the Bears roster who will be free agents after the 2014 season comes to a close. Even though they won’t be in action, it will be sad to see Briggs and Tillman on the sidelines for the last time. Some, like Stephen Paea, Demontre Hurst and Al Louis-Jean, could be brought back, so they’ll be auditioning for new paper. Either way, the 2015 Bears roster will be quite different from what we’ve seen this season, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
| PLAYER | POS | AGE | EXP | 2014 CAP HIT |
| Lance Briggs | OLB | 34 | 11 | $6,500,000 |
| Charles Tillman | CB | 33 | 11 | $3,050,000 |
| Christopher Conte | S | 25 | 3 | $1,564,400 |
| D.J. Williams | ILB | 32 | 10 | $1,407,500 |
| Stephen Paea | DT | 26 | 3 | $1,172,787 |
| Brian De La Puente | C | 29 | 5 | $795,001 |
| Jimmy Clausen | QB | 27 | 4 | $645,000 |
| Sherrick McManis | CB | 27 | 4 | $635,000 |
| Danny McCray | S | 26 | 4 | $630,938 |
| Darryl Sharpton | ILB | 26 | 5 | $601,176 |
| Dante Rosario | TE | 30 | 7 | $570,000 |
| Josh Morgan | WR | 29 | 6 | $570,000 |
| Trevor Scott | DE | 30 | 6 | $570,000 |
| Jeremy Cain | LS | 34 | 7 | $570,000 |
| Eben Britton | RT | 27 | 5 | $536,471 |
| Zach Miller | TE | 30 | 5 | $373,000 |
| Demontre Hurst | CB | 23 | 1 | $370,588 |
| Al Louis-Jean | CB | 21 | $296,470 | |
| DeDe Lattimore | ILB | 23 | $296,470 | |
| Anthony Walters | S | 26 | 3 | $151,765 |
| Montell Owens | FB | 30 | 8 | $150,882 |
| Jay Feely | K | 38 | 13 | $134,118 |
| Josh Bellamy | WR | 25 | 2 | $100,588 |
| David Fales | QB | 24 | $74,117 | |
| Austen Lane | DE | 27 | 4 | $33,529 |
| Trevor Coston | S | 25 | $0 |