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Those familiar with Olin Kreutz's sense of humor might think he was speaking facetiously.

It seemed as though the former All-Pro Bears center was entirely on the level, though, when he said the Bears tried to hire him for a ridiculously nominal amount to be an offensive line assistant.

Kreutz said when Harry Hiestand was coaching the Bears offensive line under Matt Nagy, he was contacted about a job. Hiestand was also Kreutz's coach with the Bears during the 2006 season when they went to the Super Bowl.

"Harry wanted me to come in and help with the offensive line development, help coach the offensive line," Kreutz said on AM-670. "They offered me $15 an hour to come in there as an independent contractor."

The Bears offering one of their greatest ever linemen @olin_kreutz $15/hour to assist the team's offensive line coaches when he likely could make far more than that giving private tutoring sessions to high school linemen is both objectively hilarious and sad.
— Matt Lindner (@mattlindner) January 7, 2022

This probably shouldn't surprise anyone.

For decades the Bears organization has fought the popular opinion that they were cheapskates. Apparently they have more work to do.

"That's the way they do business. Those are the things that have to change," Kreutz said.

It would be difficult to imagine they pay even Staley the Bear, their mascot, so little.

Thankfully, it isn't a normal practice at Halas Hall to pay all assistants this way. According to USA Today, in the year when Kreutz was made this offer, the average pay for NFL position assistants was $350,000 to $375,000. So it's conceivable an assistant position coach would be quite a bit less.

But not $15 an hour.

So insane. Bears are run by a bunch of NFL football family hobbyists. They think Ryan Pace is a good guy to hang around the office like a Golden Retriever. The Bears consistently have weakest depth in the league. I been following the Bears since Bobby Douglass and am 100% done.
— Utah Girl Chronicles 🌼🌺🦋💐🖌️☮️🌊 Support Writers (@buddywriterdude) January 7, 2022

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