ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

Negligent is a strong word.

There was an article floating around from Peter King today that graded the Bears draft this past weekend. It pretty much summarized my angst towards this organization. Here is a snippet:

The three teams I didn't like:

1. Chicago. The Bears had 12 draft choices this year. No quarterback picked. Chicago had nine draft choices in 2007. No quarterback picked. Chicago had seven draft choices in 2006. Three years with a quarterback need, 28 draft choices, and never a passer picked. This isn't odd. It's negligent.

After watching a championship slip out of our hands, we Bears fans will have to endure another season of futility at all the key positions on offense. (Benson is still the started) Thanks to this draft, we could be in for a terrible ride.

Conventional wisdom says that a tackle, and the offensive line in general, are the basis for a good offense. I'm not disputing that. What I am pissed about is the fact that Jerry Angelo has yet to admit that he doesn't know how to draft a quarterback. He has yet to admit that it is the most important position on the field. He hasn't drafted a quarterback in the last 3 drafts. That's pretty shocking.

Angelo's solution

As I write this, I know that the venom I spew should be tempered. The Bears waited for the perfect spot to get some extra quarterbacks into camp; after the draft finished. If that sounds like the safe, cheap way to get someone to hold the clipboard, it's not a coincidence. We signed 2 un-drafted free agent QBs early this morning. The first is the QB out of Southern Illinois, Nick Hill. The second is Caleb Hanie out of Colorado State. I know little if anything about either of them. I dare even the biggest die-hard college football fans to tell me something about these two. The experts seem to know something on Hanie. I had the pleasure of riding in on the Metra today for a late team meeting. I listened to Jeremy Green's podcast, Football Today, from ESPN for the duration of my commute. To my surprise, he had Mel Kiper Jr. on the phone. Kiper seems to be rather fond of Hanie. So, what the hell do I know. Maybe Hanie is our Romo.

Why the Bear's are completely wrong, and lack any vision.

We all know that Grossman and Orton are going to compete for the starting job this year. They both signed identical contracts. The message is clear to both of them and so is the organization's plan. Angelo is running a skills competition in this season's training camp. "Let the best man win" and all of that. That makes me nervous. If Grossman is as good as I think he is during practice, it means that we're trotting out a QB that no one on the team has confidence in. On the other hand, if Orton wins the job, we trot out the QB that the coaching staff has no confidence in. That's a lose-lose situation. It seems that no one planned for the following year. With both contract's expiring, the Bears go into the 2009 season with ZERO quarterbacks. In the best case scenario only one of the current quarterbacks signs an extension with the Bears. My money is on Grossman. That means we are going to need a new quarterback next year anyway. Why not just draft a decent talent this year and get him started on the offense? Especially with all the new WR we just added. They could learn and grow together. Not drafting a QB this year is irresponsible of Angelo and Lovie Smith. They have stymied this fine organization's growth by sticking to the "defense and special teams" game plan. People WILL stop kicking to Hester this year Jerry. Then what are you doing to do?

What I'm in favor of doing.

If I was able to predict the future, I'd say the Bears go 4-12 and get either the 3rd or 4th pick in next year's draft. I'm positive this is going to cause problems for the Bears. They don't want to repeat the mistakes of the past, but they're going to need a QB. Is that a high enough pick to get a QB next year? Are we taking another Florida QB in the first round? (Tim Tebow) That doesn't seem like a sane decision to me. Nope, I think this is a bad plan. What the Bears should have done is draft John David Booty from USC in this year's draft. By passing on him twice, and letting him go to a division rival (the Vikings traded up to get him) we have ensured our place as worst offense in the division.

I hear you complaining out there. But wait, you say! Does JDB improve my predicted 4-12 season for next year? No. Neither would Dixon, Woodson, Colt45 Brennan, or that kid Kevin O’Connell from San Diego State (Patriots Blog on the link there). That's not the point. The point is that we could have taken a low-risk flier with our 5th round pick and drafted a QB that could learn this horrible offense NOW. We're going to need a young quarterback. Forget the fact that all of the guys past the second round are probably going to me journeymen at best. Do the Bear's really have the luxury of sleeping on this glaring hole?!

I find the lack of urgency at the QB position to be yet another reminder that Halas Hall is being overrun by some bad offensive talent evaluators.

My only hope is that the fans let the organization know that we won't stand for it. If we don't win the division next year, and both these quarterback's are a disaster, I think you have no choice but to move on from the Angelo/Smith regime.

I hear Bill Cowher might be ready to come back.

I had over 100 emails before 11 am this morning. Ah yes, the Draft! I correctly predicted our first pick, Chris Williams. But then again, so did everyone else. No real surprise there. The second pick was predicted correctly by our sometimes-guest writer, CDub. Matt Forte was a pretty productive back in college. It may have only been Tulane, but this kid roughs hard and loves playing football. This makes him the complete opposite of Cedric Benson.

Competition was the theme for this year's Bears draft board. The glaring issue is we didn't take a QB. We had a chance to draft any of the following guys, Brohm, Henne, or John David Booty. After that crop was gone they took a pass on Johnson from San Diego (Hardbough's QB I believe), Dixon from Oregon, Woodson from Kentucky, and Colt45 from Hawaii. None of those guys would have looked good in a Bears' jersey right? Let me stop bitching for a second and give you the quick wrap up for each pick on day one:

14. Chris Williams - I like the kid. The knock on him is that he is better at pass protection than run blocking. If that is true, we're in trouble. But he is healthy, strong, and smart. We needed a OT. We got one.

44. Matt Forte - The running back out of Tulane is CDub's pick to click. I have seen only tape of him. He looks impressive, but I wonder if he is good enough to push Benson. Technically, I want him to start over Benson. I would have preferred Mendenhall, but he is in a better place as a result of the Bears (and Lions) passing on him.

There is a ton more to write about. The second day of the draft was a 7th round lovefest. Today, the Bear's signed something like 10 undrafted players. 2 of these undrafted players are QBs.

I have not been asleep at the wheel. I also haven't be hibernating. Unfortunately for all 2 of my avid readers, life sometimes throws you curveballs. I have missed, yet again, the opportunity to run a live mock draft. A true interactive blogger mock draft. Its a shame really. I'm going to just have to make some changes around here.

I bet that exact statement was uttered by Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo at least 100 times in the past month. The Bears are coming into this year's draft with some serious problems. We need a offensive lineman. We need a new running back. It turns out that we may need a new middle linebacker (more on that later). And of course, we could always use another quarterback. The general population, and the majority of mock drafts have the Bears taking the obvious pick, a tackle. I'm going to succumb to this group think and agree. Even though I want to draft the sexy pick. I want to draft Mendenhall. I want to help the quarterbacks out by limiting the number of times they actually have to throw. That's not exciting, modern football but this is Chicago. Remember? We run off the bus.

Cedric Benson is a complete bust and the Bears waited too long to figure this out. Other holes on offense have developed since our Superbowl appearance 2 years ago. The wide receiver position is terrible, or at best, a complete unknown thanks to Moose and Berrian's departures. The football experts, and the Monday-Morning-QBs all say that offensive skill positions like QB, RB, and WR aren't important if you don't have a great offensive line.

Common knowledge right? I guess. But I'd like to think that a great running back, in our scheme would make a more immediate impact. So let me cut to the chase and predict what I think the Bears do today in the draft:

14. Chris Williams, T from Vanderbilt. As much as I would prefer Mendenhall here, there is little to no chance the Bears front office will take another first round running back. They've had a hard enough time with Benson.

44. Felix Jones, RB - Arkansas. McFadden's understudy is going to get a chance to compete for our starting RB position. I really don't like this pick, but considering they won't be able to get the QB they want (Henne) with the #44 they'll probably move on to RB

Letsee how accurate I am after day 1...Don't be surprised if they trade out of the first round if they don't get their man.

BEAR DOWN.

(and stay tuned. I may have Twitter updates running before the draft)

Before I get into it too deep, I wanted to point out the obvious headline I could have used tonight: Danks for Nothing. If you saw the game tonight, you'd know this was a reference to Dank's craptacular 3 inning effort tonight. After his performance tonight, I'm wondering how many times I will get the chance to use that headline. Suffice it to say, the Sox lost tonight to the Twins, 12-5.

Ozzie had no choice but to go get the young pitcher and replace him with Nick Masset in the 3rd after Danks lost it and walked in a run. No one in a Sox uniform will blame the weather, but I am wondering how much the cold had to do with Danks' performance. Masset came in and did pretty well for 3 innings. He gave up a grand slam to Jason Kubel. That ran the score to 11-3, pretty much ruining any chance of a comeback for the White Sox.

It's interesting to note; up to that point in the game the Sox's 3 runs all came from home runs. The first was crushed by Nick Swisher, followed by Konerko's blast in the 4th, and Crede's homer in the 5th. The White Sox have hit a total of 11 home runs in this young season. That's a pretty good number and it leaves me confident that we're going to do well offensively this year. Hell, didn't we end up with the 3rd most home runs last year? A lot of good that did us last year...I've got to go find that stat.

It's still very early in the season to talk about what the White Sox need to do, what moves they should be making, or any other in depth analysis. There just isn't enough there to come up with anything concrete. I still have the same concerns I had last year. One of my top worries is Jermaine Dye. He's getting up there in age, and last year I started to notice he was having a hard time getting to some balls in the outfield. I know everyone in Chicago loves JD, and I'll probably get lambasted for saying this, but here goes. JD is great trade bait. If he continues to hit well (7 games, .429 AVG, .484 OBP, 4 doubles and  a .787 slugging percentage) then he most likely gets traded. Let's face it. JD is in his 12th year, and he probably could help some team that needed a DH. It all depends on how well the Sox do this season. I'll put the request in early on JD. Trade him before it's too late. Don't wait until the season gets out of hand before starting the fire sale. We might need an arm, and while most trade scenarios that involve the Sox are likely deals for Joe Crede, Dye has good power and can extend his career a bit by hanging his glove up.

It's just a thought. Especially with all the young outfielders we've got. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I always do when baseball season returns.

GO GO WHITESOX!

I am typing this as I watch Memphis battle Kansas for the NCAA Championship. It has been a very good game. Kansas coach Bill Self has his kids playing very well defensively. They are blocking shots, getting back on defense quickly, and shutting down Chicago's finest, Derrick Rose. I say that as they move to a box and one, and the one isn't Rose. He just made another 3-pointer. He's got 12 now. 9 in the half.

Kansas can hang with the dribble drive offense of Memphis. No question. They've proven that throughout the game. They're going cold as I write this, but the other Chicago kid in this game, Sherron Collins can make some big shots. If he gets a chance. 4 minutes left. Rose is officially hot now. 54-49 Memphis. I take great pride when there are Chicago kids in the tournament. It makes it that much more fun to root for a team I normally wouldn't root for. You always want to see the local kids do well. Besides, my bracket is officially shot.

The only thing that would make this tournament better is if these local kids would stay home instead of head off to UNC, Kansas, or Duke. If the Chicagoland area had some better coaching and recruiting, we wouldn't be losing all these young guns to the "big" schools. Imagine what Illinois would look like if Rose was on their roster? Ok, maybe not this year's Illini team, but you get my point.

I know none of these kids are going to realistically stay home. They don't have many choices for big name schools. Do you think these future All-Stars would go to Illinois, Northwestern, Loyola, or DePaul? The only one with any true "history" is DePaul. Loyola (my alma mater) hasn't gone to the dance since the 1980's. Northwestern is in the Big Ten, but they are worse at basketball than they are at football. (I know, I'm a season ticket holder) Illinois had a great run a few years ago during the Williams and Brown years, but the team is officially terrible again.

Technically, DePaul should have no excuse for not being able to recruit these kids. It's not like the academics at DePaul are world renowned. Unlike Northwestern, they are actually centrally located in the city. Loyola is in the city too, but they never had a Meyer coaching them.

Rose just missed his free throw...the first one. He made the second. Kansas' Chalmers just made a 3 to tie!!

Rose is hobbling as we head to a commercial break. Memphis' prayer bricked off the rim. This is crazy. I love the Madness.