Are the Chicago Bears and the NFL partially to blame for Ray McDonald?

The former San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle and recent Chicago Bears signee Ray McDonald was arrested on domestic violence with a possible child endangerment charge.

Early on Monday morning, former San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Ray McDonald, currently of the Chicago Bears, fell into legal trouble again.

The 49ers released McDonald in December after he was charged with sexual assault. That was his third charge following a felony domestic violence charge in August and a DUI in 2010.

First and foremost, with the exception of the DUI, McDonald has never been convicted of any wrongdoing. He was just arrested, and until a trial provides a definitive answer we cannot say for a certainty if he did anything. McDonald has been charged multiple times however, and this pattern alludes to his alleged guilt. The best – or I guess, worst – that can be said is it seems like he did it.

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So, are the Bears at fault?

Did the Bears’ signing enable McDonald to be more cavalier with his domestic violence? Or would this have happened regardless of if he had been signed by an NFL team? I lean towards the latter; McDonald has already been punished with suspensions, and that hasn’t stopped anything yet.

That being said, the Bears did purposely sign McDonald with no guaranteed money and only a few performance bonuses. It was a shrewd move because of the danger of McDonald being a violent offender. They are signing someone with a flexible contract because he allegedly a violent offender.

Clearly there is an issue with McDonald that will need some rehabilitation. Chicago’s locker room is not that place. The Dallas Cowboys painted the signing of Greg Hardy as a humanitarian act, that their primary goal was to turn his life around and his on-field contributions were secondary. The Bears have no such pretense with McDonald. This was just to make the team better.

It’s not surprising, but it was disheartening to see Chicago make the move to pick up McDonald at this stage in his life. It is only a matter of time before the Bears release him (probably after the Memorial Day holiday). The Bears are not to blame for this, but they do come out of it looking worse.

The league, on the other hand, fails again. They have one job: growing football. Beyond the obvious moral benefits, it is in the league’s best interest to try to rehabilitate its troubled players. The vocal majority of fans want to see the league squash domestic violence much more than they want to see those offending players succeed, and scandals like this is doing more to destroy support for the sport than anything else.

Ray McDonald is a person. As far as we can see, he is a bad person right now. That doesn’t change the fact that he is a person. The league can’t allow for him, or someone like Hardy, to be signed by a team without having the opportunity to rehabilitate himself. A personal conduct policy with a longer suspension and a serious guiding hand in rehabilitation could not only help McDonald, but it could foster a better culture around the league.

With all of that being said, this is largely McDonald’s fault. But change that was promised around the league is obviously not happening.

[H/T: USA Today Sports]

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