Monday's deadline for long-term deals for franchise tagged players has produced a new contract. It's not for the Detroit Lions' Cliff Avril, who is still without a deal. Rather, Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte has agreed to a four-year deal with the team, as first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times' Sean Jensen.

According to Adam Schefter, Forte's new deal will see him make an average of around $8 million a season.

Bears and Matt Forte agreed to a four-year deal. The deal will average about $8 million per year.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 16, 2012

This is big for the Bears. Forte is a key piece of their offense, and this contract dispute seemed like it had been going on for quite some time. Now that Forte has a new deal, he won't have to play the 2012 season on the franchise tag.

The Lions and Avril have a few more hours to get a long-term deal figured out, but at this point it would be quite surprising if a new contract is actually agreed to by both sides.

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