Sifting through miscellany looking for Bears draft indicators.
One recent mock draft had the Bears selecting Stanford guard David DeCastro when their turn comes at No. 19 on Apr. 26. Thats certainly a possibility; anything is a possibility.
But in the 75 or so drafts since they selected Hall of Fame-to-be tackle Joe Stydahar in 1936, the Bears have drafted a guard in exactly one first round. One. Roger Davis in 1960, No. 7 overall during a stretch when they had the No. 7 pick in four of five years.
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More to the Emery point, in the 14 drafts in which he has been a player (Bears 1998-2004, Falcons 2005-2009, Chiefs 2010-2011), his team has selected an offensive lineman in only two first rounds: Marc Colombo by the Bears in 2002, Sam Baker by Atlanta in 2008. Both choices were tackles.
More to the Bears point in general, the issue isnt what any consensus says the Bears need; its what they believe they need. Emery and Lovie Smith have made positive comments about the offensive line and the fact that it gets two scholarship players back from injury in 2012 (former No. 1s Gabe Carimi, Chris Williams).
The Bears rushed for 2,015 yards last season despite losing their quarterback in week 10 and their franchise running back in week 12 (after which both Marion Barber and Kalil Bell still each had 100-yard games).
After Smith and Mike Tice tilted the offensive game planning back toward balanced following week three, the Bears had one game in the next seven (Cutler games) in which they allowed more than 2 sacks.
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In the six games with quarterbacks other than Cutler, the Bears were assaulted for 4 sacks three times and 7 sacks twice.
Put another way: Maybe JMarcus Webb wasnt quite the core problem hes depicted as. And Chris Williams is entering a contract year, so motivation wont be a problem there.
The Bears likely will address the offensive line with some help by round four or five, possibly earlier. Possibly. Not likely, however.