How Jerry Has Screwed The Bears Part 3

Jerry Angelo has been the GM of the Chicago Bears since 2001. During that time the Bears have gone to the playoffs 3 times and have been to the Super Bowl but also has had 4 losing seasons. Now after 8 years I think it is time to look back and see what he has done over this time. In this part we will look at the mistakes he has made in trades, resigning players and through free agency.

I'm not going to lie or try to hide it Jerry has had some very good drafts. Many of whom he has kept around. They are the foundation of the team, such as Alex Brown, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, Tommie Harris, Bernard Berrian, Nathan Vasher and Devin Hester. And there are more which may help lead the team back to greatness like Greg Olson and Chris Williams. He has also made some good pickups in Free Agency, such as John Tait, Desmond Calrk and Muhsin Muhammad. Then through trading he has brought Jay Cutler.

However for every great move there are bads ones which I have documented in the previous two parts covering the draft day busts and the players he has let go of to soon. But what about the players he decided to ship out or let go which may have lead to the overspending on free agents or resigning home grown talent.

Probably the worst trade Jerry has made sent Marty Bookerwho over a 2 year span had caught 249 balls for 2,975 yards with 18 touchdowns establishing himself as the number one receiver for the team. In return the Bears got Adewale Ogunleye from the Dolphins. Adewale the year before had collected 15 sacks, a number he has never duplicated in his 5 years with the team. It look years for the team to rebound from this and was the driving force behind them signing Muhsin Muhammad a few years later.

The worst non signing Jerry has had was letting Bernard Berrian walk while also releasing Musin Muhammad in the same offseason leaving the Bears with no established receiver. This actually caused them to turn back to Marty Booker, who was not the same player he was 5 years ago.

Why was there no money for Berrian? Because Jerry over invested in the defense signing everyone to big deals. Urlacher, Briggs, vasher, Tillman and Tommie Harris all at the time the deals were signed ranked very high up there for player at their positons. Also investing money in players Tait, Ruben Brown, Fred Miller and Moose took away from allowing the Bears to keep a player at a skill position on the offensive side of the ball.

Because of these moves Jerry has but the Bears in a bad spot. Stuck in the middle. They now have a hall of fame arm at QB, a good running back, very deep at tight end, but thin at wideout and currently the o-line is being rebuilt. On defense we have aging corners, big question marks at safety, high priced but a very good linebacker group, a ok group of linemen that have not lived up to the high expections. Overall this team is in flux thanks to Jerry.  Maybe everything works out but I do not think so. Can Jay Cutler really be that good that he can make up for all of Jerry's mistakes. He has invested money poorly. Wasted high draft picks and let go low draft picks that have panned out. I know a lot of people think with Cutler the Bears are going to jump up and become Super Bowl contenders but I just don't see it. But this is the NFL where anything can happen. I see the Bears staying right where they 9-7, 10-6 competing for the divison title in a 3 team race with the Vikings and Packers.

I could keep going on and on about mistakes Jerry has made or should have made and I know people will disagree with me. These are just the feeling of a frustrated fan who isn't always drinking the kool aid.