Lance Briggs: 'I could never retire anything else but a Bear'

Lance Briggs is entering the final year of his contract, but he says he isn't going anywhere.

Most players entering their walk year - coming off injury, no less - are motivated for reasons beyond football. Briggs? He's just hoping to add some muscle to a Chicago Bears defense that ranked 32nd in the league against the run last season.

Briggs told the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday he intends to finish his career with the only team he's ever played for.

The only thing I’m motivated by right now is to play football. Contract stuff? I’m not even thinking about it, honestly ... I could never retire anything else but a Bear. I’m a Bear, you know? Chicago . . . it’s kind of like football to me. When I was a little kid, I started playing football and fell in love with it. It’s my first love.

Briggs suffered a fractured shoulder in last year's Week 7 loss at Washington and said he will wear a harness under his equipment this season as a result. 

The 33-year-old is eager to show the league that after 11 seasons he still has something to prove. 

I wouldn’t trade [experience] for anything. I’m a lot smarter now. There are a lot of things I understand. As far as moving around, I’m not really the judge of that; I’ll let the guys around me decide. If I can still run a guy down or play sideline to sideline, that’s all that matters. If I can make plays, that’s all we need.

The Bears will certainly need it. After ranking fifth in total defense two seasons ago, the Bears plummeted to 30th last year and saw opponents' yards per carry jump from 4.7 to 6.3 without him.