Chicago Bears: Why Manti Te'o in Chicago Would Be Bad News Bears

Earlier this week, Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com posted a blog outlining the reasons that Manti Te'o, the former linebacker for the University of Notre Dame, would be a great fit for the Chicago Bears to take with their 20th pick in the upcoming NFL draft. 

With no disrespect to Mr. Seifert whatsoever, the idea of Te'o coming to Chicago is an unrealistic one, and one that should be shot down right away.

Te'o could end up being a player who does well in the NFL, but he doesn't fit what the Chicago Bears need right now, and what they will be looking for in the upcoming NFL draft. With offensive-minded people all around the front office in Chicago, it is very unlikely that we will be seeing Te'o getting scooped up by the Bears with the 20th pick in this year's draft.

Here are five reasons that the Bears should cross Te'o off of their list right now and never think twice about him.

The Media Circus in Chicago Has to End

The Chicago Bears are quickly becoming one of the most drama-filled teams in the NFL, and right now the last thing they need is more of it.

Let's start with Jay Cutler. According to Forbes magazine, Cutler was recently voted the fourth-most hated athlete in all of sports. News coming out this week that Cutler proposed to his fiance Kristin Cavallari via text message—then when she said yes he proceeded to mail her the wedding ring—didn't seem to help his cause too much.

Oh by the way, Manti Te'o was second on that list, right behind Lance Armstrong.

Next, we'll move on to Brandon Marshall. Marshall has been on his best behavior since coming to Chicago, but his past dictates that he will have a paparazzi following him wherever he goes to do whatever it is that Brandon Marshall does nowadays.

To his credit, Marshall has not had an incident since coming to Chicago, but that doesn't mean he's not being watched very closely by some people—people who are waiting for him to do anything they can turn into news.

Another  player with media coverage in Chicago is Devin Hester. Hester made the comments recently that he was seriously thinking about retirement, and had been for two years now. Those comments came after the Bears let head coach Lovie Smith go, but Hester claimed the comments had nothing to do with Smith.

Hester has since retracted those statements, but has said a "change of scenery" would be nice.

With all this going on in Chicago right now, and with a new coaching staff for the Bears, Manti Te'o and his media circus would be a disaster in Chicago. 

Brian Urlacher WILL Be Back in Chicago Next Season

Officially, the status for Brian Urlacher is unknown for next season. He received multiple knee surgeries last year and ended this season on the sideline as well. He is 34 years old, and nobody is quite sure where he will be playing football next season.

Unofficially, Brian Urlacher will most likely be in a Bears jersey next year.

Urlacher has been a Bear all of his life. He has said he wants to be in Chicago next season, and hopes the two sides can work something out so he can remain in a Bears uniform.

From the front office point of view, signing Urlacher should be a no-brainer. The team can get him at a cheap price, and let him finish his career as a legend in Chicago.

Manti Te'o is a player who is going to start next season, regardless of what team he's with. It would be wise for the Bears to start rebuilding on defense, but that doesn't mean running Urlacher out of town for a prospect who stumbled on the biggest stage of his career in college. 

For Phil Emery and the rest of the Bears personnel, taking Te'o with the 20th overall pick in this year's upcoming draft is too big a risk for a second year GM still waiting to see what his first draft class will do with in Chicago.

Give Aaron Kromer a Chance to Succeed with the Bears

Aaron Kromer has the opportunity to make a name for himself in Chicago this season.

New head coach Marc Trestman is widely recognized as a quarterback guru and has made it clear that he will be working very closely with Cutler and the offense next season. He's even said that he'll be the one calling the offensive plays for the Bears during games.

That leaves one very special area of the offense wide open for new offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer to work with next season: the offensive line.

Many people believe that it was the offensive line that held the Bears back in many games this season.

Former first-round pick Chris Williams was cut early on, and other former first-round pick, Gabe Carimi, was benched multiple times throughout the year only to be brought back as a guard—a position he had not played since high school.

Give Kromer the tools he needs to succeed, and let's see what he can do with the absolute train wreck of an offensive line in Chicago. Get him help—draft a lineman that he wants, give him two or three if he needs it. Then let him go to work. 

Kromer is recognized as a genius around the NFL when it comes to offensive line. Even players from his former team, the New Orleans Saints, spoke this week about Kromer, saying they were sad to see him leave and that the Bears were "lucky" to have Kromer coming in to fix the line.

Don't gamble on a defensive player in the draft who may or may not work out. Instead, help Aaron Kromer help the Bears, and in return the line may be better than anyone has ever seen it in Chicago.

Shea McClellin Was a Draft Pick by Lovie Smith, Not Phil Emery

Lovie Smith was a defensive-minded coach for the Bears. Phil Emery was an offensive-minded GM, and former talent scout. The result was last offseason's frenzy of new faces arriving in Chicago.

Emery went out in free agency to try to improve the offense in Chicago. He signed wide receiver Brandon Marshall, running back Michael Bush and quarterback Jason Campbell. He gave an extension to running back Matt Forte and drafted wide receiver Alshon Jeffery.

In return, Lovie Smith got Shea McClellin in the first round of last year's draft, a defensive end/linebacker out of Boise State, whom the Bears took and put at defensive end right away.

This season, the Bears don't have a defensive-minded coach to try to get defensive players early on in the draft.

While rebuilding the defense is a concern for the front office, the defense wasn't the problem in most games last season, and that is why the team currently has the polar opposite of Lovie Smith as head coach.

Trestman wants offense. Emery wants offense. It doesn't seem to make much sense that Te'o would be sought out by these two and brought into Chicago, especially with the talent on defense right now.

Keep in mind, the Bears had four defensive players voted to the Pro Bowl this season. 

In the 2013 draft, defense doesn't seem to be an area that the Chicago Bears will be focusing too much on.

Te'o's Draft Stock Continues to Plummet

Manti Te'o is a player whose current draft stock has been spiraling downward, ever since his dismal performance in the BCS Championship Game against Alabama this season.

Te'o looked bleak and bland to say the least, as his Fighting Irish were dominated by the Crimson Tide on national television.

Te'o was part of a defense that allowed 28 first downs and 529 total yards of offense by the Tide, after he was hailed as the center of a hard-hitting defense all season long.

Then came the Deadspin article that everyone now knows so much about; then the interview with Katie Couric and his family afterward.

For those of you who don't know, it was discovered that Te'o was "catfished," meaning that he fell for someone online who turned out to be someone else. In this case, the woman that Te'o thought was real and had fallen in love with, turned out to be a man.

This wouldn't be that big of a story, except for the fact that Te'o believed she had died, and was very open with the media all season long about how much he loved her, and that he was playing for her all season long.

When it came out that she was fake, Te'o's draft stock took another hit. Even if he was telling the truth and was not in on the hoax whatsoever, it still hurts his draft stock. Certain teams won't bring in players who will be a distraction the second they walk into the locker room; meaning, he was immediately crossed off the list of some teams in the NFL.

Forbes released an article describing how Te'o stock could be affected negatively because of this, potentially costing him millions of dollars in the process.

Even without all of the media coverage he's been getting, Te'o's draft stock still continues to fall since his performance in the championship game. If he doesn't do well at the combine, he may see himself fall past the first round, and it would be foolish of the Bears to waste a first-round pick on him.