jason

I disagree completely. Skill positions come and go. Solid OLinemen stay for a long time. Any time you can get a stud OLineman when he's is or is close to BPA, while also being a desperate team need, you do it. On top of that, OL was the number 1 need not only last year, but the year before that, and the year before that. Not to mention this year. It remains, and will continue to remain, the primary need until it is addressed. The mere fact that this organization has chosen to throw 7th rounders in there and then wonder why it's not getting better year after year should be a clear indication of why it remains a problem. OL is the #1 reason why the Bears continue to wallow in offensive mediocrity. As for Webb, I've said this many times in many ways. Tice used the pieces given to him. Period. He could either use a LT who he thought had potential (Webb) and put Williams in where he was sure he'd do well, or put Williams at LT (which would have been a minor question mark) and put an even bigger question mark at LG. That result was what we saw later in the year when Guys like Edwin Williams and Chris Spencer were being thrust into the lineup with less than stellar results. And just because Webb is ill-suited for LT (this is not up for debate) doesn't mean his skillset is best suited for RT. No way in hell he plays RT for the Bears unless they move Carimi to LT and keep Williams at OG...which would be yet another mistake. I'm sick and tired of this shell game bullshit. They need to find starters and plug them in for the long haul.

Really?! You're telling me a 2nd rounder couldn't come in and unseat Edwin Williams or Chris Spencer? Neither of those guys are that good. They are serviceable at best. Make no mistake, there is a very good chance one of those guys is starting next year since Garza will remain at Center. And if the Bears move Williams back to LT, both of those guys could potentially start (even though one would probably lose out to Louis). If that's the case, a 2nd rounder could come in and start immediately. If Kelechi Osemele is available, and it's entirely feasible that he's there in the 2nd round for the Bears, he's an immediate upgrade over Spencer or Williams.

If you count Garza, that looks like two legit starters (Garza and C. Williams) and three guys who deserve to be backups. So, I agree that the Bears do have good OG depth. But they certainly don't have a ton of talent in the position and if a great talent fell to the Bears in the second and Emery/Lovie just had to pick him because he was obviously BPA by a longshot, I wouldn't be upset to see a draft pick put Spencer or Edwin Williams on the chopping block.

Do you mean either or both of the first two rounds?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Awesome. But not really. I don't see the Bears getting TWO OTs. If they get one in the first round, and already have Carimi, there is no reason to get a third guy that highly rated. If it's OT in the first, it should be something else in the second. And there should be a bunch of WRs at that point.

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Lovie and management don't take in guys like him: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7633454/...lty-drug-charge

I'd like to think that, but since Lovie and crew have been very bad talent evaluators, I can't hang my hat on it. I think it's just as likely that the coaches realized a shit-storm was upon them, and moved a guy with flexibility. What were the choices? Webb - OT only Williams - OG or OT Omiyale - Neither If it's Webb-Williams-CGT, you maximize your product. If it's Williams-?-CGT, you put yet another risk on the field. If it's Omiyale-Williams-CGT, you put Cutler in a back-brace. In the end, Webb is - I can't believe I'm about to give him a compliment - better than someone: Omiyale. Since he can apparently only play one position, it made more sense logistically to maximize "talent" and "potential." Of course, I've wanted them to move Williams back out for a while, then slide Garza back over to his familiar OG position, and put Spencer in at C where he was originally intended to be and what he was signed to do. Williams - Garza - Spencer - Louis - Carimi sounds a lot better than either... A. Webb - Williams - Garza - Louis - Carimi B. Webb - Williams - Garza - Spencer - Louis

I don't think that would work in the least. Imagine this scenario: The people who have those mega-ticket purchase operations setup in Singapore log in the same time we all do for the single-game tickets. Let's say they buy 75% of the first 10,000 sold. Now prices have gone up drastically and outpriced many who were counting on being in the first 10K. So the pool of people able/willing to buy diminishes, and the business continues on. This time at a higher percentage because there are less people and computers to compete with their manpower and bandwidth. So on and so on until sold out. Then those same assholes use all their tickets and immediately put them on TicketBastard, StubRob, and the other sites that exploit the inability of average fans to get tickets.

I agree. We have a good chance of getting a guy at 19. But if we don't get him, I'm fine with Webb getting the axe and Williams moving into the LT starting role. And to be honest, I'm not so sure he's be 28th. He could be much better if he is actually given a chance to succeed and not yanked elsewhere because there are just too many holes to plug.

Bad idea. Two rookie WRs, a first and second rounder, means that one of those guys most likely will not develop, and he will be disappointed.

Agreed, but it's a helluva lot better problem than just giving that Jamarcus "Weekend at Bernies" Webb the starting gig. With Williams on the edge, we will have a guy who has better tools, better feet, better hands, and, frankly, a better pedigree than Webb protecting Cutler's blindside. He wouldn't be the best in the NFL, but he'd be far better than Webb and certainly not the worst in the NFL. And since it's unlikely that a LT drops to the Bears in the first, this frees up more possibilities for FA OGs (Grubbs, Nicks), drafted OGs (DeCastro, Glenn), and drafted Cs (Konz), which in turn allows for more flexibility on the OL. Look on the bright side (for you and several others), this could mean the Bears are not at all interested in LT in the first round and almost certainly will focus on WR. Naaah...who am I kidding, we all know Lovie is going D in the first round.

Yep. Which is BS for the die-hard fan who can only get to Chicago once per year. Because some asshole PSL holder is going to get a handful of tickets, sell all but three or four games, make a massive profit on the games he doesn't attend, and screw over another fan for profit. Meanwhile, the single-game tickets are sold out in about 5 minutes every year because we're like 10,000 starving people at a small family picnic, and some other group of assholes have computer businesses set up to auto-dial and log into Ticketbastard when the time is right and scavenge thousands of tickets faster than any of us could hope to log in a second time. That's where captcha comes in, you have to have a person sitting at the keyboard so the programs don't work. No worries, those same assholes set up a business in a 3rd world Asian country where they pay 50 people 10 cents a day to click the log in program, type in the captcha, and nab the tickets. Then the worst assholes, the scalpers. How these guys get the tickets they get I'll never fully understand, but I suspect it has to do with inside connections of some sort. They circle around the stadium because they "need" tickets, but have a back pocket full of ways to screw over the average fan who just wants to watch a game. The whole system is BS and will never change. Raising the price only screws the average fan.

You already know I hate it. Not addressing OL until the fourth overall pick is a bad idea, and the "we'll get OL at the end"-philosophy is the reason JA got the Bears in this situation to begin with. The last three rounds aren't good enough. And that's not even considering I think drafting a TE this year is nearly a complete waste. The Bears don't need a TE; they need to use the ones they have.

Green is sarcasm, so I think that's what you're going for. But if either of these guys fell to the third (I don't think they will), and the Bears didn't get them, I would be PISSED.

Agreed.

Not really. The Bears were, in fact, close until Cutler and Forte went down. If they are going to be back (hint: they are), and the same team is put on the field next year, they would once again have a good chance to get into the playoffs. So they're not that far away from contention. And that's what the article is talking about. A full team, the actual starters, for the year. OF course they're not talking about a team with the 3rd string QB playing significant time. I agree with you, however, that they would have been killed in the playoffs. But since they would have gotten there, it means they weren't three WRs away. Upgrade the position? Sure. Overhaul it with three new guys? IDK about that. It's certainly not obligatory.

At a certain point you have to start addressing the areas of biggest need. Picking up Jenkins in the first and Cam Johnson in the second round would certainly help, but OL and WR are obviously bigger needs. No matter what happens there are still going to be positions of need, and LB is nowhere near as needed at this point. Urlacher and Briggs are still all-pro, and Roach is serviceable. Hell, Roach is twice the OLB that Webb is LT.

I dislike that slideshow for two reasons. First, it's a slideshow inserted specifically for hits. Second, for the reason you've stated: they kept saying the Bears needed three new WRs (two FAs and one high draft pick) to be Super Bowl contenders. This is obviously false because they were damn near contenders this past year until Cutler and Forte went down. This "WR or bust"-mentality is flawed for many reasons. Balancing the OL and WR needs is a better recipe for success, and anyone who thinks otherwise simply didn't watch the Bears last year.

I agree with everything you said, but I still think defense has gotten the majority of attention for quite some time, and it's about time someone in the Bears' organization thought offense-offense-offense. I'd love to see: 1. Forte resigned 2. Grubbs signed 3. Jackson signed 4. LT 1st round 5. WR 2nd round And it's entirely possible.

I like how defense was fifth out of five. As it should be. I doubt that's how Lovie sees it.

If it's a first round LT then it's a better option than Webb.

If it's a back problem I'm sure the ink is already drying on the contract.

OMG! This guy can jump out of a pool, too!!! We better start talking big money, first rounder contract with him right away.

Completely agreed. Hell, if they thought WR was that big of an issue, they could get 2 or 3 players from FA, 2nd round, 3rd round.