Former Bears Center Kreutz Fired After Physically Attacking Co-Worker

CHICAGO — Former Chicago Bears center Olin Kreutz was fired from his analyst position with digital sports start-up CHGO Sports on Monday after he physically attacked another member of the outlet’s staff.

Kreutz, who played for the Bears for 13 seasons from 1998 to 2010, reportedly put his hands around the neck of colleague Adam Hoge after Hoge made a “flippant” remark during a staff meeting, the Sun-Times reported on Tuesday.

CHGO Sports, which launched earlier this spring as a site covering all of Chicago’s professional sports franchises, said that Kreutz had been terminated effective immediately following the attack.

“Although we were shocked by the incident, we are thankful that the employee is OK,” the outlet said in a statement issued on social media on Monday. “The health and safety of our employees is of the utmost importance, and we will not tolerate any action that puts that in jeopardy.”

The Sun-Times report said that Hoge — who joined the CHGO site after covering the Bears for NBC Sports Chicago — did not need any medical attention and did not file a police report. Hoge, who has not addressed the incident, was back on the CHGO platform on Tuesday doing a live Bears podcast reviewing last weekend's NFL Draft.

Hoge did not immediately return a message seeking comment to Patch on Tuesday.

Kreutz responded to the CHGO announcement with one of his own. He tweeted a photo of Mike Tyson with a quote that reads: “Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.”

Kreutz has been critical of the Bears in interviews and on social media after claiming earlier this year that the Bears tried to hire him to work with their offensive line for $15 an hour. Bears chairman George McCaskey said that was not true and said that it wasn’t the first time Kreutz had been less than truthful about his relationship with the franchise.

McCaskey said he has learned to take “just about anything Olin says with a grain of salt.”

“That’s the way it is sometimes with Olin,” McCaskey said. “You don’t get the whole story.”