How did Brian Baschnagel keep his job for so long?

It verges on the impossible to find a definitive way to declare the best wide receiver drafted by the Bears in the Super Bowl era. In the fifty-one drafts that took place since 1967, the Chicago Bears drafted sixty-five wide receivers, only four of whom are still active. Alshon Jeffery’s recent departure for Philadelphia fits the pattern the prior wide receivers set. Using the number of receptions in a Bears uniform as the measuring stick, the best of the bunch would be a tie between Curtis Conway and Marty Booker, both of whom caught three hundred twenty-nine passes for the Blue & Orange.

Using the standard of touchdown passes caught, Curtis Conway again heads the list with thirty-one, or almost one touchdown for every ten catches. Alshon Jeffery caught three hundred four passes and twenty-six touchdown, almost exactly one touchdown for every twelve catches. Marty Booker caught twenty-five touchdown passes, putting him at one TD for every thirteen receptions. However, a dark horse candidate enters the derby at this point. Willie Gault caught one hundred eighty-seven passes, including twenty-seven for touchdowns, essentially one touchdown for every seven catches. For his entire career, Gault caught three hundred thirty-three balls, including forty-four for touchdowns. His career ration is one touchdown for every 7.6 catches. By comparison Jerry Rice caught one touchdown pass for every 7.9 receptions. I’m not claiming Gault was anywhere near the great receiver that Rice was, but Gault probably deserves more respect that I gave him previously.

Finally, only one wide receiver managed to stick around Halas Hall long enough to reach one hundred games. Brian Baschnagel. He played one hundred twenty-nine games for the Bears over nine seasons. Baschnagel scored nine touchdowns in that time, so he was good for one touchdown a year whether the team needed it or not. It came to one touchdown for every fourteen catches, and about fourteen catches a year. The remarkable thing is not the rate of receptions or touchdowns, but how Baschnagel managed to hang onto to an NFL job for nine years.

I would vote for Willie Gault although I never would have guessed that when I started looking at the numbers.

Key:

PTS: All picks chosen between 1 and 20 gain the team two points if the player makes the team. Every twenty picks adds one point to the value of the pick. The Patriots earned 10 points for drafting Tom Brady with the 199th pick.

AY: All years played in the NFL.

DY: All years played for the team that drafted the player.

AG: All games played in the NFL.

DG: All games played for the team that drafted the player.

SB1: Every time a player wins a Super Bowl ring, the team gets one point for every year of that player’s NFL service. Losing players earn one point each. Since Tom Brady played in seven Super Bowls, his chart goes from SB1 to SB7.

HOF: Any draft pick that makes it to the Hall of Fame gets 50 points.

ADCS: After Drafter Clock Score for each player. Consider this the number of points a team

earned for drafting the player in question.

BC: Bear catches

BTD: Bear touchdowns

AC: All Catches

ATD: All touchdowns