ESPN picks a Chicago Bears’ draft class as a top 10 worst of all time

All kinds of NFL Draft related articles pop up this time of year. Best of lists, worst of lists, re-drafts, mock drafts, etc. NFL fans can’t get enough of draft chit chat. We love it!

ESPN recently ran through a list of the worst classes in NFL Draft history*, and I just assumed the Chicago Bears would be well represented. I figured they'd have at least three draft classes on the list, but thankfully, it was a ranking of the worst class of each team, meaning only one awful Bears’ class would be spotlighted.

*They only ranked drafts of the “common draft era,” meaning since 1967.

I have to admit I wasn’t even a fan of the Beloved when they picked this group of players in 1978.

From NFL.com:

3rd - Brad Shearer, DT, Texas

6th - John Skibinski, RB, Purdue

6th - Mekeli Ieremia, DT, Brigham Young

7th - Herman Jones, Ohio State

8th - George Freitas, California

9th - Mike Martin, Kentucky

10th - Ben Zambiasi, Georgia

11th - Walt Underwood, USC

12th - Lew Sibley, Louisiana State

And here’s what ESPN had to say about this class, ranked 6th worst in the last 50 years.

6. (tie) 1978 Chicago Bears (5 AV)

Chicago had neither a first- nor a second-round pick in 1978, dealing the top pick for QB Mike Phipps and the second-rounder for DE Tommy Hart. The only players from the nine-man class who made the squad had brief careers as backups: defensive tackle Brad Shearer (third round) and running back John Skibinski (sixth round).

That AV number is a Pro Football Reference created metric that stands for Approximate Value. You can learn more about it here, but it measures a player’s value to his team.

You know a class is bad when they don’t even bother listing a position from the 7th round down.