Who's at fault? Tank Johnson
Bears needed lineman for Super Bowl, but we don't need his lifestyle
Chicago defensive lineman Tank Johnson has had plenty of off-field trouble, but should that have kept him from playing in Super Bowl XLI in Miami?
OPINION
When the Chicago Bears’ defense took the field against Indianapolis in Miami in Super Bowl XLI Sunday, Tank Johnson lined up at his familiar defensive tackle position.
The fact that Johnson played in the NFL’s biggest game -- won by the Indianapolis Colts--is enough to irritate many sports fans. And Peyton Manning, the Colts’ all-world quarterback, certainly would rather not see Johnson’s face in his backfield, but for a different reason: he wants to keep his head connected to the rest of his body.
There’s no question Tank Johnson has the talent to compete in the National Football League. The question, however, is: Should he be allowed the opportunity?
If you just returned to this universe, or don’t follow football, Tank Johnson has been in the limelight once again recently, this time with a guest appearance on CSI: Miami, and not the television program.He had to receive permission from a judge to travel to Miami despite pending gun charges. He doesn’t just lead the league in arrests, he apparently has a “Get Out of Jail Free” card that he uses over and over. A Chicago paper reported that the December raid was apparently just one of at least 30 police visits to Johnson's home in the last two years. Authorities responded to all types of grievances, from complaints about his pit bulldogs to a call from a man threatening to hurt Johnson because his fiancée was in Johnson's home to shots fired in the back yard.
Johnson pleaded innocent.
Johnson was arrested Dec. 14 after police raided his Gurnee, IL home. It was his third arrest in 18 months. He was arrested for unlawfully carrying a gun in 2005 and was arrested again in 2006 on aggravated assault and resisting arrest charges. This time, he faces 10 counts of possession of firearms without the required state gun-owner identification card. Prosecutors claim six weapons were in the home and the other counts relate to ammunition police found there.
Less than 48 hours after his arrest, however, Johnson was out on the town, this time at a Chicago bar when his friend and bodyguard, Willie B. Posey, was shot and killed. Posey also had been arrested on drug possession charges when police raided Johnson's home.
The Bears suspended Johnson one game for being at the club, a suspension some feel was not harsh enough. If found guilty on the Lake County gun charges, Johnson faces a maximum sentence of a year in jail.
Johnson certainly had a case for saying he deserved to play in the Super Bowl. After all, this is America, where someone is innocent until proven guilty.
Gun toters would even argue that he had every right to have a gun in his home for protection, But six guns? Does a man really need an arsenal to protect himself?
How difficult all this must have been for Bears head coach Lovie Smith, a fine and decent man who would never be caught at a bar late at night. But no right-thinking individual could condemn the Bears for keeping Johnson on its roster. After all, it’s a question of what’s fair to the entire team. Should you ban your best nose tackle right before the Super Bowl? It has been 21 years since the Bears were in a Super Bowl, and it could be 21 more before they get in that position again.
So who do we blame? The judge, or Cook County law enforcement officials, for not banning Johnson from travel out of state to play the game? Anybody who would do that would be physically run out of town by Bears fans. Besides, the judge has ordered Johnson to stay at home except to go to work, and ruled that he needs permission to leave Illinois.
Perhaps the Bears organization, for ignoring the moral implications of Johnson’s acts and then welcoming him back after a one-game suspension? No, they knew their Super Bowl hopes would go up in smoke if they kept Johnson out.
So who? It has to be Tank Johnson, and only Tank Johnson. Any thug would know after the police were called to your house 29 times, it’s time to get rid of the guns and the dogs.
