Bears Chair George McCaskey "was the one to take the blame" for signing DE Ray McDonald, who Monday was released following his second domestic violence-related arrest in the last nine months, according to Patrick Finley of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. McCaskey said, "It was our decision -- my decision, ultimately, alone." He added, "We had safeguards in place. [GM Ryan Pace] came to me for permission. So we have the reinforcement of that process. I just need to make a better decision." Finley notes McCaskey has "second-guessed how the Bears came upon the decision to sign McDonald." After initially "rebuffing the notion of signing the player," McCaskey was "swayed when McDonald flew himself to Halas Hall for an interview." McCaskey: "I’ve asked myself that question a lot: ‘What more could I have done? Is there somebody else we could have consulted with? Should I have taken more time to make a decision?' I don’t know." McCaskey, a member of the league’s Conduct Committee, said that he "had not heard any discussion about whether teams should be punished for player misdeeds but that it 'might be something that would be worth a discussion.'" He acknowledged, though, that the franchise’s reputation "had taken a hit." McCaskey added that his confidence in his first-year GM "hasn’t changed" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/28). In Chicago, Rich Campbell notes McCaskey has "absorbed public criticism for not contacting McDonald’s accusers as part of the Bears’ evaluation in March." McCaskey: "I’ve thought about that a lot, too,” he said. “Not just before signing him but since. One of my concerns was the bias that anybody has in that situation. An alleged victim wants to make sure that the charges are filed, while the alleged perpetrator is doing everything he can to make sure charges aren’t filed. So that was part of it. But a larger concern to me is I didn’t want to interfere with any criminal investigation or with any league investigation by talking to the child’s mother." Campbell notes McCaskey in hindsight "believes the Bears’ system for evaluating a player with character concerns accomplished its goal and could be applied again in the future" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 5/28).
