The Chicago Bears knew they were taking a gamble on Ray McDonald. And the gamble backfired.

The Bears cut McDonald on Monday, after the defensive lineman was arrested earlier Monday in California on suspicion of domestic violence and child endangerment. According to ESPN, the Santa Clara police arrested McDonald at approximately 7 a.m. Monday after officers reported that he "physically assaulted the victim while she was holding a baby." 

This comes after, McDonald was released by the San Francisco 49ers in December due to what the team's general manager Trent Baalke described as a "pattern of poor behavior," including a separate arrest from a different domestic violence incident stemming from August.

A second domestic violence incident in less than a year was too much for the Bears to deal with.

"We believe in second chances, but when we signed Ray, we were very clear what our expectations were if he was to remain a Bear," said Chicago's general manager Ryan Pace in a statement released Monday afternoon to ESPN. "He was not able to meet the standard and the decision was made to release him."

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Now, the question is will McDonald, 30, ever get a chance to play in the NFL again? 

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(Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)