Will 2010 Be The Chicago Bears?
The Chicago Bears are coming off a very disappointing 7-9 mark from the 2009 season. Many thought that the acquisition of Jay Cutler would help the Bears finally end their playoff drought and that he would somehow elevate the games of every player on the offensive side of the ball. Needless to say, that did not happen and Cutler led the league with throwing 27 interceptions.
One of the areas where the Bears struggled mightily was the offensive line. As a result, the Bears averaged less than four yards per carry and Jay Cutler did not have a lot of protection to aid him in getting rid of the football in a timely manner. As a result of Chicago’s inability to run the football effectively, the opposing teams lined up extra players in the box often causing mayhem in the backfield. The Bears also experienced great pains on the defensive side of the ball as well as Brian Urlacher suffered a season-ending wrist injury in the opener against the Green Bay Packers and the secondary gave up a number of big plays throughout the entire season. While part the defensive struggles came from players not playing in their natural positions, the defense had to be a major concern coming into 2010. So even though the Bears did not have a first round pick because of the Cutler trade, it was important that the team focused on at least filling some of the holes that contributed to their less than stellar 2009 season.
With the above areas, having to be addressed, the Bears did very little to shore up their deficiencies in drafting Quarterback Dan LeFevour. LeFevour is the only player in NCAA history to pass for over 12,000 yards and rush for over 2,500 during his career. While he was a decent Quarterback at Central Michigan winning 36 of the 51 games as a four-year starter, this selection hardly does anything to address the areas in which the Bears failed miserably in a season ago . While every team in the league needs a viable backup quarterback in case the starter goes down, The Bears definitely would have been better off making a selection that would help improve either their offensive line or their secondary. These were the two glaring weaknesses that prevented the Bears from being a contending team in the NFC and their selection should have been geared toward taking steps to improve those areas.
As I write this article, the Bears have already decided to part ways with LeFevour and have signed 38-year old Todd Collins as their third Quarterback. While I cannot totally blame the Bears for drafting LeFevour because Caleb Hanie has shown very little to warrant him being the backup, The Bears should have opted to go in another direction with this selection. While there has been nothing but positives coming out of camp despite a winless pre-season, hopefully the additions the Bears did make during the off-season, will lead to a better showing than the 7-9 mark from a year ago.
Tags: 2010 NFL Draft, Chicago Bears, Dan LeFevour, nfl
