Free agency officially opened at 3pm Central and it took the Bears about, oh, let’s say five minutes to get their first signing done.

And that first signing is Lamarr Houston. I wrote about this last night when reports about the Bears interest in Houston first surfaced. The deal is reportedly worth $35 million over five years, which is basically in line with what Bennett got to stay in Seattle. So, essentially, the Bears are getting Houston cheaper than what they would have paid Bennett, and he could prove to be just as productive, if not better.

We won’t know that until five years from now. What we know now is that this signing basically signals the end of Julius Peppers’ time in Chicago, because they Bears just don’t have the cap space to make this deal and keep him.

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