Skrine helped convince Gipson to join Bears

[Staley Da Bear]

"Having a guy like Buster here who's able to tell me and be real about how things are operated and run here was major and it was a key point for me because you know that's somebody I trusted," Gipson said. "He had nothing but great things to say about the city, about the organization, about the fans, and that made it a whole lot easier.


"I want to play meaningful games and win games. You only have such a small window to be able to play in this league and leave your mark and being able to play in meaningful games, and this is a team that's got everything that you need to truly make a run and I think that was a major deciding factor for me."


Skrine also lauded the culture at Halas Hall.


"He talked about the coaching and how just cool and vibrant the atmosphere is there," Gipson said. "Besides everything else, when you walk in the building the biggest thing that you want to do is make sure that you're having fun. This is a kids' game. We've been playing this game since we were kids. At the end of the day, that was the biggest thing for me, when he talked about the coaches and how much he had love for them.


"He said they love their fans here. He said that's the thing about it. Football is football; it's life up here. For him to say, 'Hey man, you're going to love it here, you're going to love the coaches,' he's known the type of personality I got.


"I want to come in somewhere where everything is about winning. We're still having fun. I think that people miss that part of the game. Some teams don't have fun. Being able to come here, have fun and win games, and do what you love to do, do what you've been doing as a kid, was a huge selling point.


"And Chicago, the third most populated city, it's always going to be just a nice, vibrant situation. It doesn't hurt that the rich history behind the organization, you've got generational fans. It's just an awesome opportunity to walk into and I'm excited. I truly am."