...it seems as if the most important thing to do is to find out “who is to blame”. This is just very bad luck. Yeah, he might have had some preexisting issues but every player does in one way or the other, whether it be health related or not. The fact that it happened on the very first day of practice seems more freakish then preexisting. I would think a preexisting back issue would be something that would wear down during the season. When I played football, I had a bad knee and it always felt great in the beginning of the season and horrible towards the end.

And before we start naming people they could have drafted, we have no idea how good any of those players that you named actually are. There were scouts that actually had Matt Forte ranked above Mendenhall. You can’t say that the Bears “missed” until you know how the other draft picks end up doing.

This is just a terrible thing to happen to the Bears offensive line. Why does this kind of stuff keep happening to our team? Bad luck.

Of course it was. This back issue was widely reported. They’re kidding themselves if they think calling it a “new” injury is going to absolve them of this gaffe.

Yes, Brandon Albert is hurt. But, one, is not out for the year. And, two, he got hurt in camp. That is completely different than someone with a pre-existing condition. There’s no way you could say he’d get landed on the same way in Bear’s camp as happened in Chief’s camp. Before he got hurt, Albert was doing VERY well at LT.

... that has had me a little confused, since it happened in the draft, with the sequence of picks mentioned in the starting post for this thread…

did anyone else that watched the draft live realize how the Lions, in the 15th spot coming directly after us and fully expected to also be selecting an OT, managed to trade their pick to KC for the 17th overall pick AND the 1st pick in the 5th round? and how the Bears so completely failed to get such a trade when all of the aforementioned prospective tackles were still on the board and we all knew they needed to stockpile draft picks to begin with?

sure, it was possible that they weren’t contacted or that KC was waiting to make its move until after the Bears picked, but IF NOT, why didn’t the circumstances allow for the Bears to get the same, or even a slightly better, trade? if you make that trade, you still have the luxury of picking between Brandon Albert (versatile/high ceiling) and Jeff Otah (supposed to be a mauler in the running game) and then selecting with the 1st pick in the 5th round. this would probably be a good time to point out that the Vikings used the 2nd pick of the 5th round to get JaBooty, who I am praying doesn’t come in and prove to be the currently-lacking dependable game manager that’s the last thing that franchise needs before its set to dominate the division for the next several years…

either JA and his draft team didn’t go out and adequately survey the market for trade opportunities (which I think its their job to do) that would leave them with nearly the same caliber of a prospect, minus the back injury problems, OR they knew about the trade possibility but stubbornly passed on the value-adding move to stick with Williams because he was the slightly-surer “quick fix” for filling the need the media and the fans all knew needed to be addressed. if it were the latter, you’d have to wonder if pressures from elsewhere in the organization from concerns about ticket sales didn’t have a role in the course of action, or lack thereof.

that’s all circumstantial, of course, and barely tied to this discussion, I know. I’ve always thought it was a good point, though, and was never brought up in any draft review/ analysis that I ever saw or heard.

but the fact is, right now the doctors are saying this injury is completely unrelated to whatever he had in college. again, they may be lying to the public to save face, but scouts are not medical professionals. i think this is just really bad luck, nothing more. injuries happen.