They stood by him loyally while he served jail time for unlawful weapons possession, but the Chicago Bears had had enough: the team abruptly released DT Tank Johnson after his latest mishap—a DUI in Arizona. The 300-pound, second-round pick had been warned that there was no further margin for error; the league had already suspended him for 6-8 games in 2007.
GM Jerry Angelo said the team was "upset and embarrassed." Coach Lovie Smith, who had visited Johnson in jail, remarked, "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." (More NFL stories.)