When Chicago Bears fans first heard that top free agent cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. was going to visit them, there was hope that some of their secondary inconsistencies would go away. It turns out that Chicago was out of the race and will actually face him very soon.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported that Samuel decided to sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers on their practice squad. Samuel is coming off spinal fusion surgery that kept him out for the first half of the season after missing most of last year to injury.
Chicago was one of the six stops Samuel had to visit the team. Those were more for medical reasons to see if he is 100% healthy enough to play on the field.
Bears got some extra motivation to take down the Steelers in Week 12
This should add some extra juice to what already looks like it's going to be an interesting showdown between the Bears and Steelers. The two teams are scheduled to play each other in Week 12 in Chicago, just five days before they play the other Pennsylvania team, the Philadelphia Eagles, on Black Friday.
So far this season, the Bears are 1-1 against the AFC North. They first lost to the Lamar Jackson-less Baltimore Ravens, but came back with a wild 47-42 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Chicago will at least be familiar with one guy on the Steelers side: the self-proclaimed "owner" of the Bears, Aaron Rodgers. After over a decade of nightmares, the Bears fan base would love to stick it to Rodgers with a win in Soldier Field.
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Samuel would have been a great addition, especially with too many concerns about Tyrique Stevenson and Nahshon Wright being consistent enough at cornerback, but the Bears seem to be in a decent spot on defense that they could ride it out with them and hope Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon can come back at some point in the season.