Aaron Kromer isn’t exactly one of the most beloved human beings in professional football. Nowhere more so than the city of Chicago. He made a lot of enemies in 2014 when he leaked to the media that the Bears were frustrated with Jay Cutler, even criticizing the QB. It was viewed as a betrayal by many in the locker room and led to things spiraling out of control that season. As it turns out, they weren’t the first Bears to know Kromer was bad news. Olin Kreutz was.
The former six-time Pro Bowl center first encountered the coach during his brief stint with the New Orleans Saints in 2011. Chicago had just parted ways with the longtime offensive captain as his age became more and more apparent. The Saints needed stability in the middle and he seemed like an obvious choice.
Then, abruptly, a few weeks after the regular season began Kreutz chose to retire. It was a mystery as to why that happened. Being the competitor he was, it seemed so out of character. As it turns out, Kromer was a huge part of why. Kreutz told 670 The Score that he came close to clobbering the offensive line coach in a locker room spat.
Drew Brees, the future Hall of Famer and team leader, tried to get between them and ended up getting shoved into a wall. The writing was on the wall at that point.
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“I knew when I stood up to go after [Kromer], and somebody grabbed me and I threw him up against the wall—and that was Drew Brees—I knew it was time for me to go.”
Kreutz didn’t seem to regret that moment either, making it clear Brees wasn’t totally innocent in the moment.
“Listen, Hall of Famer or not, you don’t grab people.”
So why did Olin Kreutz hate Kromer so much?
The truth is it wasn’t just one thing that set Kreutz off that day. He said the problems had started months ago. Kromer apparently picked at him over and over, day after day, week after week. Being a proven veteran and sacrificing as much as he had for the game, there’s only so much a man can take.
“It was months of saying things to someone who is 34-35 years old and putting all that time [in]. It was months of things you shouldn’t say to another grown man without expecting an ass-whooping… I don’t have regrets. You don’t play that long in the NFL and have regrets.”
It’s rather fitting that Cutler’s former center was out to protect his QB one last time before walking away from the game. If only Kreutz had warned the Bears what they were getting into when the man was hired in 2013. Either way, it’s just another great story to add to Kreutz’s legend as one of the all-time great guys you never want to mess with.
