Offensive line wasn't the Bears' primary need

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With the No. 19 pick the Bears had an opportunity to address the clich need constantly ascribed to them: offensive line. Stanford guard David DeCastro, Stanford tackle Jonathan Martin, Georgia guard Cordy Glenn andIowa tackle Reilly Reiff were all available (Glenn and Martin still are, going into Day 2). The Bears passed.That was the right non-call.The Bears certainly dont need ratification here, but offensive line was not a primary need and shouldnt have been the No. 19 pick unless one of the available blockers was appreciably better than McClellin or the other edge rushers on the board. Consider:-- Forget the total sacks of a season. Its meaningless for the 2011 Bears. Jay Cutler was sacked 23 times in his 10 games and only 12 times over the final eight. The 10-game rate is about what Aaron Rodgers (2.4 per game) and Tom Brady (2.0) endured, and the arrow was clearly pointing up when Cuter broke his thumb.-- The Bears rushed for 2,015 yards last season. That includes six games without their starting quarterback and defenses knowing Caleb Hanie was not going to beat them. And that includes 4-34 games after Matt Forte went down with his knee injury.-- And three different Bears backs had 100-yard rushing games. Marion Barber ran for 108 yards at Denver. Kalil Bell rushed for 121 against the Packers.-- Think Mike Martz wasnt part of the problem? Of Cutler's 23 sacks, 14 came in the first three games when the playcalling breakdown was 128 pass plays vs. 51 runs: a 72-28 ratio. At Green Bay, the Bears ran 42 times and passed 28. Josh McCown was not sacked. At Minnesota (pitting JMarcus Webb against Jared Allen, in that dome) the backs carried 21 times and McCown threw or scrambled 29 timesand was sacked on the other seven pass plays.The lasting impressions of the Bears offensive line were formed in that nine-sack first half against the Giants in 2010, the mystery game-planned first couple of games last season, and the Minnesota game.Those dont tell the full offensive line story. The full story was there in the first round Thursday.

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