Should the Chicago Bears have given Matt Forte an extension?

Entering the final season of a four-year, $30.4 million deal, Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte finds himself in the same position he was when his first contract came to an end in 2011 — sans extension.

Days before Sunday’s season opener against the Green Bay Packers, Forte is resigned to playing out the season with no guarantee beyond the $9.2 million owed him this year. That’s not so bad for the rest of us, but it’s a sticking point for a player who’s proven to be one of the game’s best since entering the NFL in 2008.

[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football: Sign up and join a league todayl]

In an interview with NBC Chicago, Forte let his disappointment in the team that drafted him be known.

data-pnum=”3″>”I did it before, four years ago, and it’s the same thing. It’s not a hard pill to swallow. It’s just kind of discouraging as a player. I’ve been here seven years, going on eight, and you’ve been producing at a constant level, year after year. And for them to not want to do an extension, which would obviously extend my career in this city, it’s just kind of discouraging, because you feel like the guys that do that should be rewarded — because this is a production-based industry. So, if you produce, you should be rewarded with that, but that doesn’t always happen. So, I’ve come to the realization that this might be my last year here, and so I’m going to make it the best year I can possibly make it. And if I’m a free agent at the end of the year, I might have to go somewhere else, if it comes down to that.”

Forte isn’t wrong. He’s amassed at least 1,400 yards from scrimmage in each of his seven seasons in Chicago, ranking in the league’s top five in both receptions and carries with a career-best 1,846 all-purpose yards last year. He’s earned every penny of the $26.8 million he’s received since 2008, and his consistent performance should have earned him a certain degree of respect in the Bears organization.

Then again, Forte will turn 30 years old on Dec. 10, and history hasn’t been kind to players who have spent the better part of a decade on the wrong side of a 250-pound linebacker’s anger. And considering the league is increasingly less reliant on running backs, maybe the Bears are wise to wait on Forte.

And there’s the rub. In a brutal game with limited guarantees on contracts, teams are in control. Even when players try to gain the upper hand by holding out, they’re often viewed as villains. “It’s a hypocritical league,” Forte told the Chicago Sun-Times in June. “That’s what it’s about. As a player, all I can do is go out there and perform.” So, that’s the path Forte chose, living up to his word that he wouldn’t hold out.

It’s not unprecedented for aging backs to receive contract extensions before their deals are done when they’ve been as productive as Forte. Last summer, the Seattle Seahawks gave Marshawn Lynch a two-year extension that should keep him employed through his 31st birthday. And this offseason, the Buffalo Bills traded for a 27-year-old LeSean McCoy and promptly extended him for another five seasons.

So, while Forte assumes the risk of a potential sudden decline in 2015 that could severely cut into his current value — whether the result of injury or inevitability — the Bears also risk losing one of the most productive players in their franchise’s history when he hits the open market next summer.

[Yahoo Daily Fantasy Football: Enter our $1 Million Week 1 contest]

The contracts DeMarco Murray and Frank Gore signed this summer are bookends for Forte’s next contract negotiation. After submitting an Offensive Player of the Year campaign in 2014 — by far the best season of his four-year career — a 27-year-old Murray left the Dallas Cowboys for a five-year, $40 million deal from the Philadelphia Eagles. Meanwhile, after his eighth 1,000-yard season in nine years, a 32-year-old Gore left the San Francisco 49ers for a three-year, $12 million contract from the Indianapolis Colts. 

Forte will likely end up somewhere in the middle should he remain healthy this season — and he’s missed just four games in his seven-year career — but there’s an increasing possibility it won’t be with the Bears.

– – – – – – –

Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach