The problem with that is that Kyle Long started all of four games. That’s not a guy that you draft to win now, that’s a guy you draft to be a Pro Bowler in a few years. Shariff Floyd, a long time starter with a major program, or Tyler Eifert, or most of the other people the Bears passed on to get to Long, are guys who would help more right away. I thought like you did, that the Bears’ may have one more year of a great defense to squeeze in a Super Bowl win, but their draft was much more future driven than win now.
Which makes it much less understandable that they didn’t draft a QB. We could talk about Cutler all day again, but I think the Bears will regret not getting an insurance policy on Cutler this year. With the talent influx on the O line, at TE, and at WR, I figure Cutler to improve on his mediocre numbers of his Bears career so far, but not by too much. I think it would have been a lot smarter to have a developmental QB on the roster to lessen the blow if Cutler gets injured or has another sub-average season yet again. It seems to me they’re hitching their wagon to Cutler once again, and this time without a backup plan.
One more thought on the draft. I’ve seen the Rams draft getting consistently high grades. I just don’t get it. IF you think Tavon Austin is a heretofore unseen talent in the NFL and he’ll stay healthy, IF you think Alex Ogletree isn’t a immature butthead and that he’ll maximize his considerable talent, IF you think TJ McDonald will only have to hit people and not be forced into coverage, then I suppose it would be a nice draft. But I don’t.
What’s weird is they grabbed two of my guys, Barrett Jones as great value in the 4th and Zac Stacy in the 5th. Those two picks were very, very good (I may even throw in Stedman Bailey as a good pick), but I was unimpressed with the picks they wasted to move up, I think Tavon Austin is Dexter Mccluster and I think the first 3 rounds of the draft were amazingly high in risk, too high to be considered the excellent draft these experts seem to think it was.
It’s like these people forget the problems that the Tennesse Titans had drafting with Jeff Fisher as their coach. For every Chris Johnson, there is a Pacman Jones or LenDale White or Vince Young or Chris Henry or Kenny Britt or Derrick Morgan or Jake Locker.
Yup, they are not in win-now mode. That was what I meant. Emery is trying to draft future stars who have Pro Bowl potential, not hole fillers. That tells me that it’s not really about this year, it’s about the next 5. I’m okay with that since it’s the right way to build a team, but they very well could be punting on this last year of decent defense. I suppose letting Izzy, Urlacher and Roach go may have signaled that already.
That said, I may revise that statement to say that the Bears are not in win-now-at-all-costs mode. In free agency the Bears certainly did look to fill holes. I guess FA is for short term, the draft is for long term. That’s obviously the right strategy, but it would be nice to get impact from rookies for a change.