Bears chairman George McCaskey was initially hesitant to sign Ray McDonald

Ray McDonald received the fresh start he sought out, signing with the Chicago Bears after being involved in an alleged domestic assault while playing for the San Francisco 49ers.

McDonald was ultimately not charged after being arrested on Aug. 31 on suspicion of domestic assault. 

It'll likely be presented as an afterthought once the season starts, but members of the Bears' upper management were hesitant to pursue McDonald. 

Bears chairman George McCaskey spoke about his skepticism Wednesday to the team's official website. 

"The first thing, before he even walked in the door, I gave him a lot of credit just for proposing the idea because (Bears general manager Pace) Ryan had asked me for permission to pursue him and we had a file on him with the information that we had gathered. I looked at the file and came back and said no.

"So Ryan said, 'Fine, we’ll move onto the next guy.' And then Ray, I don’t know if he contacted Vic or Ryan directly. I don't know how it came about. But he asked if I would be willing to meet with him and I said yes. The fact that he proposed that idea, I gave him a lot of credit for. He was very candid, very forthright. It was a difficult conversation. It was long. It took a lot out of me and I think it took a lot out of him. After that conversation, I told Ryan that he had our permission."

McDonald was allowed to play for the 49ers throughout the investigation, recording 39 tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble in 14 games. 

"I was impressed with how sincere he was and how motivated he is. He understands I think that he could have well been facing the end of his football career, and he loves football and he wants that career to continue. So I was impressed with his motivation," McCaskey said. 

The Bears' chairman said he seldom gets involved with player personnel moves, but wanted to clear this one given the nature of the allegations presented against McDonald. 

McDonald is the latest piece in the Bears' plan to revamp its porous defense.