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I am a multimedia nut, journalism, photography, videography, radio broadcasting and production. I’ve done it all, but I love to write and have a lot to say. I live in the Chicagoland area now and have always had an extreme love and passion for the Chicago Bears
Beating The Dead Horse: O-Line Problem
Written by Brett Solesky   
Saturday, 17 October 2009 16:46
Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith Continue To Ignore the Offensive LineI've been on a pretty strong rant lately regarding the offensive line most of my articles and blogs.  The rant against Omiyale, the report card evaluations, Bears will only go as far as their offensive line allows them, yup I've covered that topic pretty thoroughly.  Beating the offensive line to death and not focusing as much attention as I should on perhaps the defense. 

The defense is 20th in the league in stopping teams on third down.  A direct result of a lack of a pass rush.  So Jerry Angelo goes out and makes a trade to address this problem by landing DE Gaines Adams from the Buccaneers.  Adams isn't a big time producer, but he is rumored to have All-Pro ability.  At 6-foot-5 260-pounds Adams has the size, speed and athleticism you look for  in a great defensive end. 

Rod Marinelli when he was in Detroit made a push to draft Adams with his first round pick in 2007 rather than take Calvin Johnson.  Marinelli loves Adams and his ability and the thought is if anyone is going to mold him into a consistent Pro Bowler it will be Marinelli. 

However in order to land Adams the Bears had to give up the earliest draft selection they have post Jay Cutler trade.  The Bears gave up their second round draft pick and it marks the second consecutive year the Bears will not be drafting in either the first or second round of the draft. 

OT Chris Williams is the only young player that will likely still be on the Bears' offensive line as a starter in four years.Now how does this relate to the offensive line?  Simple the offensive line has been deplorable since the 2006 season.  You can argue that the bad offensive line in 2007 led to Grossman's downfall, clearly 2008 the offensive line struggled to protect Kyle Orton.  The Frank Omiyale experiment has proven to be disastrous to this point in the season and doesn't show any signs of improving.  Orlando Pace is old and washed up and ready to hang up the helmet and don the yellow jacket and stand over a gigantic bronze bust in the next five years. 

So the Bears are still in a place where they need to get young on the offensive line.  This is why I have such a major problem with this trade and why I think it was a bad idea.  Not because of the player we landed but because Angelo is ignoring getting younger and better along the offensive line with legitimate players who can make an impact. 

Roberto Garza isn't getting any better nor is he getting any younger and the likelihood his production drops off a cliff in the next year or so is highly probable.  The left guard position is already the aforementioned weak spot on this offensive line, and there isn't anyone likely to step in and man that spot for a long period of time.  Olin Kreutz is still one of the  Top-10 centers in the league but he is also on the down side of his career and could easily see his production decline significantly. 

So why then with only one position on the offensive line successfully addressed for the next five years does Jerry Angelo give away a highly valuable draft pick? 

There is no real explanation and while all Bears fans have been looking you see players that used to be on the Bears' roster go to other teams with better offensive line situations and flourish.  Cedric Benson currently leads the NFL in rushing, Kyle Orton is beating top level teams like the Patriots behind the Broncos' tough and talented offensive line.  Finally Thomas Jones went to the Jets last year and led the AFC in rushing yards, while most everyone wasn't looking the Bears have shown that they could have possibly gotten more out of their past offensive weapons had their been better blocking in front of them. 

So this begs the question, why would Angelo address a position that has been a relative position of strength by trading a draft pick that could be used at a position of extreme weakness?
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