2 #1s, a #3, AND a starting QB (orton isn’t a star, but pre-injury he was pretty decent with some horrible talent around him). that being said, young franchise QBs don’t become available very often. a great QB makes everyone around them better. think about all those years favre killed us (and lots of other teams) with pretty mediocre talent on offense. brady didn’t have much until 2 years ago, yet he killed teams. anyway, point being, if cutler is indeed an elite QB, the price will be worth it. if we sign holt, draft a decent WR in round 2, have our o-line hold up (it seems much improved on paper), and maybe even have earl bennett emerge with the help of his college QB, our offense is actually going to be pretty good, and probably good for a few years.

They didn’t give up two 1st round picks. They gave up one (next years).

They USED this years 1st round pick on Cutler. There’s a difference here.

Denver used a #11 pick, in 2006, on an unproven Jay Cutler.
Three years later, we used the 18th pick to get a young, PROVEN, Pro-Bowl QB.

We used a #1 just like Denver did. In order to make the deal happen, we gave them Orton (who we now don’t need) and next years #1 (which, by JA’s track record) only had a 50/50 chance of being successful. We also swapped a 3rd for a 5th.

If Cutler is the Bears franchise QB for the next 10 years, it’s the steal of the century.

2 first round picks— who upgrades the most important position with the 18th pick??
No one.
Next years pick should be late middle to late first round. again no upgrade.
We still have a 3rd round pick left, but the only thing that “bothers” me is if Cutler goes down who backs him up?
Don’t get me wrong I love this move, I want the season to start now. It’s finally nice to see the Bears make a winning now move.

as 25 year old QB’s coming off pro bowl seasons dont get traded. Looking at all the mocks, unless Heyward-Bey fell to us at 18 anyone we were going to be reaching for someone, so losing that pick does not matter to me. If the defense can at least maintain what they did this year (I personally think they will improve a tad this year) we should win the division, so are pick is likely in the mid 20’s at best. Since the talent level in the mid 20’s in most drafts is comparable to what you can get in the mid 30’s (2nd rounders) those picks tend to be overated so again I can live with giving it up. What bothers me is third rounder, as you can get a starting caliber player who will likely get paid in six figure money in his first contract. I personally felt like we could have given up a fourth or fifth and not gotten that pick from Denver back. We have 8 picks still in the draft, so if Britt or Nicks falls out of the first round, we can still monever somewhere in the top of round two (for the 49th and 140/143 (whatever 5th rounder we get from Denver) and get one of those guys.