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Everything happens for a reason, including linebacker Alec Ogletree’s rise up the Bears’ depth chart over the last month. When Ogletree signed a one-year deal with the Bears back in August, the team was dealing with injuries to several linebackers in training camp.
While the intent might’ve been to bring Ogletree in as another camp body, it didn’t take long for that plan to be rewritten. Ogletree made an immediate impression, notching six interceptions in four practices and was impressive enough to even push starter Danny Trevathan for playing time.
For all the flack that outside linebacker Robert Quinn gets for his disappointing outing thus far, he’s part of the reason why Ogletree landed with the Bears. Ogletree was visiting his friend and former Rams teammate Quinn in Chicago when he got the call.
“I had been training to be ready to play and hopefully get a call,” Ogletree said. “But when the call came, it definitely came out of the blue.
“It was definitely perfect timing, I guess I would say. Things are aligning properly I feel like for me and my family. I just try to cherish the opportunity to be in this league because I was on the outside looking in, and you see a lot of guys that struggle on the outside, and for me to be able to have a better opportunity to come back into this league and play and do what I love to do, I just try to take it day-by-day and enjoy the moment of being here with the guys and being able to do what I love.”
Whether it was luck or fate that brought Ogletree to the Bears, the important thing is that he’s in Chicago at a time when he’s needed the most. Ogletree will get the start opposite Roquan Smith at least for the next three weeks with Trevathan on injured reserve with a knee injury.
But Ogletree has an opportunity to make an even bigger impression with a strong performance in these first three games, which could earn him the starting job on a more permanent basis.
“I heard this quote one time,” Ogletree said. “Something along the lines of, ‘Luck is when opportunity presents itself and you capitalize on the opportunity.’
“You’re not always going to have the right opportunity to do something, even though you think you should. But when you do have the opportunity, it’s what you do with that opportunity while you’re there. So like I said, I just tried to take it day-by-day, didn’t want to hold anything back. Just tried to come out and be me and capitalize on the opportunity that the Bears gave me.”