The Bernstein Brief: No Positives In The Kevin White Saga

By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist

(CBS) If receiver Kevin White ever gets back on the field to catch passes, it won't be as a Bear. Some other team will take a low-risk chance on a former prospect and hope for the best, while the team that drafted him ends up with nothing to show for their investment of money and time.

The saddest aspect of the latest injury is that he won't even really be missed. It's a big deal only because of his name, and nobody watching him play at any point here could see anything resembling effectiveness, let alone stardom. Were he not who he is, he might have already been long gone based on his performance alone.

The bar for White had become so low that general manager Ryan Pace and coach John Fox kept referring to him "stringing practices together" as an achievement. Think about that, the idea that mere availability during the week was considered progress.

We see dark irony in how he lived up to being a physical freak, but in a twisted and unfortunate way. Instead of running past and jumping over defenders, his bones kept breaking. First in the left leg, again in that leg and then his shoulder blade, in a spate of awful luck.

It means that the pathetic end of the Marc Trestman era becomes even more so in hindsight, with the Bears not even getting the consolation prize that miserable season afforded them.

Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Bernstein and Goff Show" in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter  @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.

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