Ruminating on conclusions from the Pro Bowl results
Lovie Smith may in the end take the fall for the Bears failed 2012 and the failure will lie in his failure to solve the riddle of an offense in Chicago despite four different coordinators.
But at some point a measure of accountability (as you say, Brandon Marshall) falls on performance and talent. The Bears go into the final, pivotal playoff weekend with a quarterback (Jay Cutler) ranked 22nd (80.2) and significantly below Aaron Rodgers, Robert Griffin III, Alex Smith, Matt Ryan, Russell Wilson, Tony Romo and Eli Manning among NFC quarterbacks.
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And those are just quarterbacks in the NFC playoff push and dont include Drew Brees
If the Bears want to find Pro Bowl talent for their offensive line, theyll have to spend big for it in the draft. And be right.
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All six of the Pro Bowl tackles were first-round draft selections by their original teams: Russell Okung (Seattle), Joe Staley (San Francisco), Trent Williams (Washington) for the NFC; Duane Brown (Houston), Ryan Clady (Denver), Joe Thomas (Cleveland).
Only one Pro Bowl guard was lower than a third-round pick. Guards Logan Mankins (New England) and Mike Iupati (San Francisco) were No. 1s. Chris Snee (New York Giants) was a No. 2. Marshall Yanda (Baltimore) and Wade Smith (Houston) were No. 3s. Jahri Evans (New Orleans) was a No. 4.
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Phil Emery was brought in as Bears general manager in large part to remedy problems with Bears drafts. How did he to on Pro Bowl Day?
No Bears rookies are going across the water; Emery and the Bears probably would settle for them just being healthy at this point. A couple of draft choices with Emery fingerprints on them are going, however: Falcons' Ryan and Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry.
The catch is that Ryan was the No. 3-overall pick of the 2008 draft and Berry was the No. 6 pick of the 2010 draft. If the Bears are drafting that high anytime soon, unless it is the result of a roster obliteration after firing Smith after this season, the likelihood of Emery being the one making the final call on that pick at that point is problematic