Manti Te'o's Subpar 40 Time Should Scare off the Chicago Bears

Manti Te'o was one of the greatest stories in football in 2012.

2013 has been a different story.

Today, the Notre Dame linebacker's draft stock took another hit. SportsCenter tweeted his official 40 time earlier today:

@SportsCenter: "Manti Te'o at #NFLCombine -- Broad Jump: 9’5” (official) | 40-yard dash: 4.82 (official) | Vertical jump: 33” (unofficial)"  

Feb 25, 2013

Elite linebackers should clock in much faster than 4.82. Brian Urlacher ran the 40 in 4.57 seconds at his combine, and that was after he packed on pounds from his last college game (according to Sports Illustrated).

Whether you care about Te'o's strange fabricated girlfriend saga or not, there's no doubt that his stock is slipping. The former Heisman hopeful performed terribly in the BCS National Championship. His 40 performance at the combine was the 20th-best of all linebackers—and there were only 26 total.

Todd McShay projected Te'o going to the Bears in his most recent mock draft. With the Bears keeping the Cover-2 under Mel Tucker, there's no reason to take Te'o now. Middle linebackers need speed to play in a Cover-2. It's becoming a more obvious choice for the Bears to pass on Te'o in the first round.

Meanwhile, the offensive line class remains as strong as ever.