Don Pierson

No sooner had the news of Tank Johnson's abrupt departure from Chicago hit the wires than his agent-lawyer, Lorna Propes, put out a release of her own, quoting her client:

"I want to thank the Bears organization and fans for their support during this difficult time. I regret that I have to leave Chicago under these circumstances, and wish my friends at the Chicago Bears nothing but the best."

Such a nice gesture. So well crafted. So sincere.

Johnson and his people are job hunting. Will he get another chance with a second team? Does anybody doubt it?

Maybe not this season. Johnson is facing an eight-game suspension from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, but it's not like he can blithely sit out the first half of the season, then sign with some playoff contender down the stretch. He must be under contract before the suspension takes effect, and it's difficult to imagine a team being so desperate for help it would sign him now and hope he spends a half season of idle time more appropriately than is his custom.

But before football fans yell good riddance to bad rubbish, consider the alternative. Is the world safer with Tank Johnson on a team or off a team?

Recycling questionable characters remains a valuable public service of the NFL. Any kind of regular employment is usually a good thing, even for the incorrigible.

Although Tank's firing can be viewed as a victory for serious sports enthusiasts, it could be a defeat for society. The alarm is this: If Johnson is out looking for trouble at 3:30 a.m. after already serving 60 days in Cook County jail and facing an eight-game suspension while trying to keep a high-paying job, what will he do without such incentive?

At age 25 and already a Super Bowl starter, the 300-pound defensive tackle will prove too enticing for teams to ignore in 2008. They will tell themselves he has finally learned his lesson, he has matured, he has stayed out of trouble (maybe) and why not take a chance? After all, he would come plenty cheap. There is little risk. If you have to cut him, so what?

Part of the NFL's problem with hiring questionable characters is supply and demand. The business is so competitive that teams convince themselves that people like Tank Johnson can actually be more worth than bother.

And what about “Pacman” Jones? If he never plays another down for the Tennessee Titans, does anybody think his career in the NFL is over? He's too young, too talented, too full of potential. He can help you win. Same with Chris Henry, the Bengals receiver who is in trouble on a regular basis. Heck, Ricky Williams is still knocking on the door. The St. Louis Rams gave Lawrence Phillips a second chance, for heaven's sake.

In Johnson's case, teams can rationalize that they have examined the record and discovered nothing he has done is too egregious to forgive. He started getting in trouble in 2005 when Chicago police found a fully-loaded 9-mm Ruger in his parked car outside a downtown nightclub. After violating his probation, Johnson was found in possession of unregistered guns during a raid on his house. After apologizing to teammates, he went clubbing and his bodyguard and friend, Willie B. Posey, was shot to death in a Chicago bar.

Johnson's main indiscretion is stupidity. He's never been accused of threatening anyone with his guns, unless it was the fierce and noisy dogs he kept at his house.

The Bears stuck by Johnson through a 60-day jail sentence, during which 147 names appeared on his visitor register. "Tank is a good person," coach Lovie Smith said.

When Johnson was stopped in Gilbert, Az., for going 40 mph in a 25 zone at 3:30 a.m. and "being impaired to the slightest degree," that transgression alone ordinarily wouldn't be enough to get an employee fired.

The Bears obviously had had enough, but another team looking for a stout defensive tackle will eventually step up.

The NFL wants to rid itself of its image as a halfway house for questionable citizens. No question, the industry attracts and welcomes individuals willing to engage in violent and erratic behavior for profit, a unique skill sometimes difficult to confine to weekend time slots. Most players adapt to the profession, recognize it for its lucrative rewards, and manage to live parallel lives in polite company; some don't.

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Maybe the answer for the NFL is year-around play and midnight kickoffs. Or maybe a dose of sleeping pills mixed among the vitamin supplements. Elaborate training sites already allow teams to encourage players to practically live year-round on the premises-working out, eating, practicing. Could bunk beds and locked gates be next?

After his release from Cook County jail, Johnson rejoined the team at their May mini-camp and told reporters his new goal was to someday win the NFL's Walter Payton Man-of-the-Year award for contributions to society outside of football.

Such lofty aspirations usually aren't fulfilled at 3:30 a.m.

But somebody will give Tank Johnson another job. Lifetime bans are imposed only after players demonstrate they can no longer play. Besides, Lovie Smith vouches that Tank isn't a bad guy at all.

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"A lot of people within our organization gave extra time and energy to support Tank: players, coaches and our front office," Smith said in a Bears' press release. "We did our best to establish an environment for him to move forward. Ultimately, Tank needed to live up to his side of the deal."

Already, Tank and his people are working the next deal.