Thread: Buck stops at the top for Bears

Buck stops at the top for Bears

Failure to evaluate and develop talent proving very costly

Astutely sensing that his offense is in a crisis and his franchise quarterback is at a career crossroads, Bears general manager Jerry Angelo has signed a ... defensive lineman?

What Angelo is acknowledging by releasing defensive end Mark Anderson and signing Charles Grant is that he rather would have a player who has been released twice by NFL teams in the last six months than one he drafted himself and coach Lovie Smith has spent four years developing

What ails the offensive line and the surprising announcement Tuesday are further evidence of the Bears' continued inability to evaluate and develop talent, which continues to be as big a problem for them as missed blocks and blown assignments.
If you're wondering how an offensive line that helped the Bears reach the Super Bowl after the 2006 season has deteriorated to the point where it allowed an NFL-record nine sacks in the first half of a 17-3 loss Sunday to the New York Giants, consider the Bears' drafting record and the players who saw the majority of the playing time in that game.

The Bears' draft-day results have been so poor that the team's greatest asset, quarterback Jay Cutler, is being protected by late-round draft picks and players cut by other teams.

The line that played the majority of the snaps against the Giants, for example, featured guard Lance Louis, a seventh-round pick who never had started an NFL game before this season. When veteran guard Roberto Garza was injured, he was replaced by Edwin Williams, an undrafted free agent released by the Washington Redskins. At tackle were Frank Omiyale, a fifth-round pick once cut by the Atlanta Falcons, and Kevin Shaffer, a seventh-round pick brought in as a backup. Another seventh-rounder, rookie J'Marcus Webb, also played.

The only homegrown player on the line is center Olin Kreutz, who was drafted not by Angelo but by Mark Hatley.

Is it any wonder that the Bears' medical staff had to scrape Cutler off the turf with a shovel?

Angelo showed a commitment to the offensive line in his first draft with the Bears when he spent a first-round pick in 2002 on Marc Colombo, who was released after three injury-plagued seasons. Since then, Angelo has drafted 10 offensive linemen, only two of whom remain on the roster, and we still don't know whether Chris Williams or Webb can play.

Angelo has acquired five more defensive linemen during that span while also trading third- and second-round picks, respectively, for Adewale Ogunleye and the late Gaines Adams. Of that draft haul, only Tommie Harris, Marcus Harrison, Henry Melton and rookie Corey Wootton remain, and none are currently starters.

Anderson was considered a co-starter with Israel Idonije. With him gone and with Tim Jennings replacing Zack Bowman against the Giants, Danieal Manning and Chris Harris were the only remaining defensive starters against the Giants who were drafted during the Angelo-Lovie Smith era. And the Bears had to reacquire Harris after trading him to the Carolina Panthers.

It's hard to build a team from the inside out, which Angelo likes to do with his track record for drafting offensive and defensive linemen.

Angelo said during a recent interview that it's difficult to find quality offensive linemen, which has been true enough in the Bears' case. If you can't find them in the draft, however, it's virtually impossible to find them elsewhere because quality linemen are locked up to long-term contracts by the teams that drafted them.
What's left are players who have been released and picked over. All too frequently, those are the players the Bears have had to sign to compensate for draft-day mistakes.