The Bears are the latest team to empower the NFL Players Union to decertify in March, in the absence of a new collective bargaining agreement, spokesman Carl Francis said.

The Bears are the 14th team of 32 to unanimously approve the move, which would be a mandatory move by players to sue NFL owners under antitrust laws if there is a lockout.

The NFLPA is doing this now instead of in the spring because of the challenge of collecting the approval cards from players.

Players would be much harder to pin down in the off-season, when they are free to travel.

Two years after a failed strike, the NFLPA was decertified in 1989 then returned four years later, when a new contract was reached.