Why was Danny Trevathan so determined to remain a Bear?

In the Chicago Bears’ storied history that includes many dominant defenses, there was a time in the not-so-recent past where the Bears defense was one of the worst in the NFL.

Not necessarily what you expect to hear when discussing Bears and defense.

Danny Trevathan was one of the players brought in to turn around a struggling Bears defense and get them back to their dominating ways.

While he had to suffer through a couple of abysmal seasons under John Fox, the Bears defense was creating something special, and he was one of the backbones of that defensive archetype.

The Bears defense has been one of, if not the best defenses of the last two years. Trevathan has been playing some of his best football in Chicago, and it made it an easy decision for the Bears to keep him there.

Trevathan signed a three-year extension to remain with the Bears through 2022. According to NFL Network, the deal is worth $24 million with $14 million guaranteed.

So why did Trevathan decide to forgo free agency and re-sign with the Bears so quickly? Simply put, he doesn’t want to mess up a good thing.

“You don’t want to mess up stuff that’s already good,” he said, via the Sun-Times. “I feel like this was home. They’ve been nothing but good to me. I feel like we have something special here. My work here is not done. The whole goal is to bring a Super Bowl back here, and I feel like we’re so close. I didn’t want to shy away from that.”

With Trevathan’s re-signing, the Bears solidified the middle of their linebacker corp. with Trevathan and Roquan Smith, who have been a dominant force for Chicago over the last two seasons.

But there was a decision to be made at inside linebacker for the Bears. When Trevathan suffered a fluke elbow injury in a Week 10 game against the Lions, Nick Kwiatkoski thrived in relief of Trevathan for the remainder of the season.

Kwiatkoski, also a free agent, was set to test the free agent waters, and many wondered if the Bears would choose to retain Kwiatkoski or Trevathan.

While Kwiatkoski appeared to be the younger and healthier option, the Bears ultimately went with Trevathan, who played up to his original contract.