DiCaro: Brandon Marshall, Always The Victim
By Julie DiCaro--
(CBS) Brandon Marshall rarely shut up during his time in Chicago, and he's still talking.
This weekend, Marshall continued whining about his time in Chicago, despite the fact that he hasn't been a Bear for almost a year.
"I can care less about stats and the awards," Marshall said, according to ProFootballTalk.com. "I wanted my character to be rebuilt (in Chicago), and I did that. Then it was ripped away from me. So I'm still a little angry about that, but I'm just going to use that for motivation to keep going."
The implication, of course, is that the city of Chicago is just another in the long list of entities that have wronged Marshall, who, to his mind, wants nothing more than to play football and help mankind. At this point in his career, Marshall has elevated perpetual victimhood to an art.
Bears fans may remember Marshall's time in Chicago a bit differently than he does. Marshall's first year with the Bears, in 2012, was much like this first year with the Jets for him: He said all the right things, hit all the right notes and went out of his way to endear himself to fans. But eventually, Marshall got comfortable, reverted to his default setting of whiny malcontent and started shooting his mouth off about it.
Take, for example, the press conference Marshall called in Chicago in September 2014 to address allegations made against him by the family and friends of a former girlfriend, headed up by the equally insufferable Gloria Allred. Marshall spent nearly 40 minutes rambling on about how unfairly he'd been treated (by the NFL? Allred? ESPN?), minimizing and flat out denying his role in a domestic assault on his then-girlfriend for which he was suspended by the NFL for three games (the suspension was reduced to a single game after Marshall appealed).
Never mind that Marshall has been accused of eight separate incidents of domestic violence by two different women since he was drafted in 2006. Marshall wound up the press conference last year by distributing a packet of documents, which (possibly illegally, definitely unethically) included the accuser's private medical information without her consent.
The week following Marshall's bizarre news conference, he refused to speak to the media after a game in which he was blamed for a Jay Cutler interception. Marshall discussed the incident on his Showtime program, "Inside the NFL," after being taken to task by co-host Boomer Esiason. Marshall failed, at any point, to utter the all-important words "I'm sorry."
"They're killing me right now," Marshall said of the press then. "They're killing me right now. But, I have to say, these people in Chicago have really treated me good. And I need to give them more. I tried to channel my inner-Marshawn Lynch (by not talking.) And it didn't work for me. It didn't work for me."
A few weeks later, after an October loss to the Dolphins, Marshall was heard screaming at teammates in the Bears' locker room. Marshall reportedly called out Jay Cutler for his play, then humiliated kicker Robbie Gould for attempting to intervene, saying "You just kick the ball!" When reporters asked Marshall about the incident in a postgame press conference, Marshall lashed out at the media.
"OK, were you in here?" Marshall said, according to ESPN.com. "Were you in this locker room? This is a team matter. That has nothing to do with you. There's a lot of guys this means a lot to. We're 3-4. We need to play better. That's unacceptable. That's unacceptable. Unacceptable, shouldn't have lost today, shouldn't be 3-4. (The) offense (has) got to play better. It's as simple as that."
Marshall continued his antics deep into the 2014 season, challenging a Lions fan on Twitter to a fight. This preseason, after the Bears traded him to the Jets for a fifth-round pick in March, Marshall was still talking about the Bears, claiming he was the only one courageous enough to confront his quarterback:
"I felt like I was the only one in the organization that had the huevos to hold (Jay Cutler) accountable," Marshall said. "It didn't go the way I wanted it to go."
It didn't go the way Bears fans wanted it to go, either, but it's hard to see how the Bears or the fan base were at fault for Marshall's antics.
Now 31, Marshall finds himself with his fourth team in 10 years. That's not unusual for many mediocre NFL players, but it's ridiculous for a player of Marshall's caliber and attributable solely to his behavior with every organization he's played for. This season, Marshall made it as far as September before getting into hot water with Jets coach Todd Bowles.
One day after Brandon Marshall brought up race as a possible factor in Deflategate, Todd Bowles said he wants his receiver to be "smarter" in how he addresses sensitive subjects.
Marshall said on "Inside the NFL" on Tuesday night that, in talking to players around the league about Tom Brady's suspension and the fact that it was itsoverturned, some felt that the "race card" played a role in the decision and in the NFL's discipline as a whole. Bowles didn't disagree with Marshall's overall point, however.
"I think his opinion is well-warranted in what he said," the new Jets coach said Wednesday. "I'm sure you have cases back when I played. I've seen some things, just like he's seen some things but I'm not on that platform. He is, and he's got to be smarter."
None of this, of course, is Marshall's fault. All the bad press Marshall has garnered throughout his career is the result of his being misunderstood, his being treated unfairly, his being attacked by the press and fans. For all Marshall's admirable advocacy for the mentally ill, he has failed to take responsibility for his behavior at every stop in his career.
The names of the teams change. Brandon Marshall, apparently, never does.
Julie DiCaro is an update anchor and columnist for 670 The Score. She previously worked for 15 years as a lawyer in criminal and family court. Follow Julie on Twitter @JulieDiCaro or on Facebook. The views expressed on this page are those of the author, not CBS Local Chicago or our affiliated television and radio stations.
