1. Sign a free agent OL

Who? What Free Agent LT was available? This isn’t magic, there has to be someone there. Faneca was the only real name at OL and He’s a guard. Don’t get me wrong, I’d L-L-LOVE to see Faneca standing next to Chris Williams, but the Jets were throwing money around like silly and the bears just don’t do that. And honestly, they’re smart not to. History has shown that throwing extravagant spending DOES NOT yield results.

2. Sign Michael Turner.

Actually, this I completely agree with. I don’t think he should have changed the draft AT ALL, however I just thought, going in, that Benson+Turner would be an awesome 1-2 punch, and now I think Turner+Forte would be even better, but Oh well.

3.Sign Berrian.

Sure, it sounds good to say that, but the Vikings made him an ABSURD offer. For what Berrian has shown the NFL the past 2 seasons, Jerry Angelo would have been STUPID to match that offer. Godspeed Bernard, but I look forward to watching Peanut pushing you around twice a year.(He would’ve been dumb to franchise him as well, since the franchise tag is the average of the top 5 contracts at that position. And since WR is a glamour position, he would’ve been making money usually reserved for talents the likes of Randy Moss and Chad Johnson and he simply. didn’t. deserve. it.)

4.Ruben Brown.

Played like shit last year. He’s over the hill and I’m glad he’s gone.

5. Ricky.
well, duh he needs to be traded. He plain sucked last year.

6. Benson. He couldn’t have been traded for anything worth getting. We had a better chance of rebuilding the line for him to run behind and hoping to get value for our pick via production, instead of the 6th round pick he could’ve got in a draft day trade. Obviously he went and got arrested and now it appears he’s more or less blacklisted.

—-—-
The ONE thing Jerry Angelo didn’t do that I am still irate over is not signing Bryant Johnson from the Cardinals.
a 6’3”, 215 lb, former 1st Rd(2003) pick WR with deep threat speed, who has virtually NO wear’n’tear (not to mention an unknown ceiling for talent) due to playing behind the best Wide Receiver tandem in the NFL?
and there wasn’t even a bidding war, he was one of the LAST free agents signed. Honestly I have no idea what excuse they have for not grabbing him.

We did the right thing with Berrian. I’m no salary-capologist or anything but I assure you, paying one receiver upwards of 8 or 9 million for ONE years would have hurt us BAD. On top of that, the franchise tag is a mark of respect and accomplishment. Hence the title. It is for a FRANCHISE player. A BIG contributor that is vital and pivitol to the success of the team as a whole. And Berrian wasn’t that guy (and he won’t be on the Vikes, either, no matter how much money they throw at him). I LOVED Berrian. But he was one-dimensional as it gets. He was a pure deep threat. Thats all.

He wasn't that guy that would Consistently go over the middle for the tough yards, he wouldn't run into traffic.

In fact I can (and have) argued that Berrian was our biggest problem at the beginning of the year. In the Chargers game there was a deep ball where he quit on the route because he was headed into traffic. If he had that touchdown, in all likelihood, we win and set a whole different tone for the season.
Then in the COWBOYS game he had a BIG drop for what would’ve been an easy touchdown, and that would’ve changed the face of that game. (and in the process, again set another tone for the season)
There were a dozen or other so drops, but those two were especially big. Those were plays where he didn’t come through and a Franchise wide receiver would have.

I want to emphasize again, that I am not a Berrian hater. I loved him on this team, but I have to be honest that he did not deserve the money. Be it big money contract or franchise tag tender, he didn’t deserve it, and Minnesota will find that out the hard way.

—-As for Benson, I think you kinda contradicted yourself. You mentioned “all in hindsight” but then talk about how we didn’t get anything. C’mon, neither Jerry Angelo, Lovie smith, nor any of the other Bears administration and coaching staff had ANY way of knowing that he’s get arrested. TWICE. Cedric was part of the reason we made Offensive line priority #1 in the draft. No one wants to waste a #4 overall pick and anyone could see that whatever you thought of Benson, he was running behind arguably the worst line in the league last year, and no one, i mean NO ONE ( not LT or AP or LJ) is going anywhere behind a line that bad (BTW, one should take note that all 3 of those dudes have AMAZING OL’s). So we HAD TO give him the benefit of the doubt.

Why you you trade a top 5 pick for a 5th or 6th rounder while you’re IN THE MIDDLE of revamping your offensive line? As the starter last year, he would have to serve as the measuring stick for our OL performance. If his YPC went up 1.9 YPC, well that revamp went pretty goddamn good then, didn’t it?

At draft time, the value was CLEARLY at leaving him on the team and probably starting.

It sucks, that he ended up getting arrested and booted off, but I guaruntee you that every last GM in the league has a story about something that happened RIGHT AFTER the draft that really screwed them. It sucks, but it happens.

As for our Guard situation, I’m actually RIGHT THERE with you dude, lol.
Every time I read about Terrance f-ing Metcalf I am throwing my arms into the air in confusion, yelling “Josh Beekman, Chester Adams, Kirk Barton!!!! Anyone but Metcalf, C’MON!”

Seriously Lovie, we’ve drafted THREE young guards in the past TWO Years and we are supposedly revamping the line. They May be young, and you may be nervous having two rookies comprising the whole left side, but if you do want to revamp, then shit or get off the pot, dude.

And for the record, I completely disagree with the assertion that we should’ve taken a QB in the Draft.
Actually, at first I REALLY REALLY wanted a QB and got mad at every round that Angelo passed on one, until i saw an interview with JA after the draft.

In the interview he stated that he wanted one too, but every round they were looking at a player who they could foresee starting THIS year. Maybe not in week #1, but that sometime this year everyone they picked in rounds 1-5 could conceivably start if needed to. He mentioned that a guy like Zach Bowman in round 5 was just TOO GOOD too pass on for a Quarterback that wouldn’t be ready for at least 2 to 3 years. (in the beginning of the interview I believe he mentioned that he and his scouts had Matt Ryan as the ONLY qb who they could see being ready to start his first year.)

I have to say, once I saw that- I was convinced. I looked back at it and our draft was masterful. Arguably the best draft in the league.
We covered SO many needs. (OL, RB, WR, DT, and S were ALL bigger needs than QB)

Seriously, If you’re looking at a QB thats gonna need 3 years to be ready, then Orton is exactly what you’d be drafting. The only difference is that Orton has already had those years to learn.