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Five Quick Thoughts on the Next Few Weeks For the Chicago Bears

| February 26th, 2015

forte

As many of you know, this is not the place to come for draft analysis in February. I will write about the draft EXTENSIVELY for the two weeks prior to the draft. There is no more than that required if you’ve watched ALL of college football for four months in the fall.

  • Matt Forte Tweeting about a perceived lack of commitment from the Bears organization is telling. Someone in his camp got wind of the Bears mentioning him in potential trade deals. If they didn’t we are meant to believe Forte, a seasoned vet, is lashing out emotionally on social media because of erroneous blog reports. If the Bears can trade Forte – with only a year remaining on his contract – they should do so. Of course they have to get something for him but if they have no intention of retaining his services beyond 2015, what is the point of not accepting a mid-round pick for him this coming month?
  • Seems the new Bears brain trust respects the work of the old Bears brain trust. Signing of both Hurst and Louis-Jean to two-year extensions signals to me, once again, Phil Emery is no longer running the Bears for one reason: he hired Marc Trestman.
  • Josh McCown is set to make his decision on landing spot over the next few days and I’m hoping he chooses Chicago. I then hope the Bears make an announcement that Cutler and McCown will battle for the starting gig in training camp. Will Cutler win that competition? Of course. But it will send the message to Cutler that he can be replaced at any point in the 2015 campaign by a player who has the confidence of the coaching staff and respect of locker room.

  • Have received so many emails from fans hoping the Ravens release Haloti Ngata so the Bears can sign the next middle of their 3-4 alignment? Will never understand this mindset. Bears should not be looking to pay for an aging Ngata. They should be looking for the 22 year-old Ngata in the coming draft. While the Bears defense was dreadful overall in 2014, their defensive line was not. It is also an expensive unit. If the Bears are going to spend in free agency, spend on a guys who can cover.
  • Okay, one draft note. If I were a team looking to add another tight end, I wouldn’t touch the $6M number being bandied about for Charles Clay. I’d take FSU and Jack Nicklaus’ Nick O’Leary a few rounds into the draft. His 40 time apparently dropped his stock. That means some team is going to steal a terrific football player.

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