Then and Now: A look back at community reaction to the Chicago Bears 2013 draft

Here's the 2013 draft for the Bears, along with what their role is on the 2013 active roster:

1st Round: Kyle Long - Starting Right Guard

2nd Round: Jonathan Bostic - Second String Middle Linebacker

4th Round: Khaseem Greene - Second String Weakside Linebacker

5th Round: Jordan Mills - Starting Right Tackle

6th Round: Cornelius Washington - Third String Defensive End

7th Round: Marquess Wilson - Third String Wide Receiver

Interestingly enough, all of the Bears draft picks made the roster, with a couple of them starting in their rookie season.

If you go back and look at the draft threads for some of these picks, you wouldn't think any of these guys would be on the team. Quite honestly, you would assume that the Bears would have had to immediately fold the franchise, and had in turn put on the green and gold and cheer for Green Bay.

So it should be a fun exercise to look at the kneejerk reactions to that first round pick, and then compare that to the general sentiments of our community as we're nearly five months removed. In the interests of being sort-of a gentleman, I won't include the name of the people who made the comments, but feel free to own up below if one of them was yours.

Kyle Long - 1st Round - 20th pick

For starters, there were at least 15 WTFs, if not more. I stopped counting because it didn't feel that important. The general summation is that absolutely no other team had any interest in Kyle Long whatsoever, and the Bears could have easily picked him up 30-60 picks later.

Oh, and additionally, Phil Emery was an idiot and didn't know what he was doing.

you have Floyd, Geno, Te'o there

you f***ing take a 2nd round guard

Having a complete stroke here.

This pick is even worse that anything I could imagine. THIS GUY AT 20???? WE COULDN’T GET A F***ING BETTER TRADE FORTHIS F***ING SECOND TO THIRD ROUND SCHMO? I miss Jerry Angelo. Emery seems even more arrogant and worthless.

Great

we are the f***ing laughing stock of the f***ing league in this draft.

So what's the plan tomorrow Phil?

Perhaps try and draft a 7th rounder in the 2nd?

Horrible Pick...

wrong in every way. Complete and total fail!

So now what Emery fans ? Still have faith ? I sure as hell don't .

This is an amazing amount of hyperbole, I realize. But let's take a look at some of the comments about Long that have emerged after training camp, preseason, and the first week of the season.

Kyle Long looks like an All-Pro

There is no way to put it Phil Emery just blew this pick(slams pen). 3 months later : I would just like to tell people to be patient with Kyle Long, the rookie mistakes happen, but he is going to be very good.

I am so freaking pumped about Kyle Long

Kyle Long is special and it isn't hard to see

I can't help but too now see Kyle Long as one of the faces of the franchise.

With that being said I hope he keeps his nose clean because I cld see him being the offensive lineman version of Lawrence Taylor.

Now, keep in mind, it is still very early. Kyle Long could most certainly regress, and the Bears could find themselves in the same situation they've been in recently.

But as people are already creating mock drafts for 2014 (*cough cough* time to plug SBN's Mocking The Draft), let's keep this in mind:

Your thinking on Thursday night in April is possibly not very valid come the first week of September.

All drafts will have reaches, and teams will pick players you don't like. But that's not to say they can't be good, and that's the lesson in all this.

Let's talk about these kinds of reactions below. Tell us about a time you felt one way, positive or negative, and it actually went the opposite of what you expected. And if you were someone up top, feel free to fess up. We won't be too hard on you...