Chicago ? As Lance Briggs addressed the media Tuesday for the first time this preseason, coach Lovie Smith leaned a little closer to the circle of reporters surrounding the linebacker to overhear what was being said.

Smith probably felt like covering his ears.

Give the linebacker credit for wanting to speak publicly about his one-car crash Monday morning on the Edens Expressway that resulted in a misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of accident and two traffic citations – and could have been tragically worse.

But Briggs’ rambling 2 minute, 35 second statement raised more questions than it answered. He may have sought to set the record straight but only made it seem more crooked.

The normally smooth Briggs sounded so rattled by the events of the previous 48 hours that he mistakenly referred to the incident happening “Sunday morning.” Police discovered his badly damaged $350,000 Lamborghini at 3:14 a.m. Monday.

“When it happened the first thing I did was I panicked,” Briggs said. “I didn’t want there to be a big scene there so when I left I called a tow truck. I also was startled and called and reported my car stolen. Within 10 minutes, I called and took responsibility for what I did because it was ridiculous in the first place.”