All-Time Chicago Bears Draft

All-Time Chicago Bears Draft

This article is part of our NFL Observations series.

For Monday's show on SiriusXM Fantasy, Liss and I decided to continue the Chicago theme and compete in an All-Time Chicago Bears draft. We thought it would be ideal to bring in ardent Bears fan and fellow host on the channel Jeff Mans. We modeled the draft in the same format as our Green Bay Packers draft that Tom Kessenich did with us earlier. Each of us were to draft a QB, two RB, two WR, a TE, two Flex players and a kicker. It's important to distinguish that you only get what the player did in his career with the Bears, and not anywhere else. I tend to think that factor gets ignored in the court of public opinion - and that's something that we've evolved our draft strategies over time to that account.

The Bears are a historic franchise, but it's not one rich in standout offensive performers, especially in the passing game. The best quarterback, at least statistically, is Jay Cutler, though nobody confuses him as an all-time great. Probably the most storied quarterback is Sid Luckman, and if you era-adjust he's probably better statistically than Cutler too. We pondered on the broadcast whether the Bears' locale has a lot to do with their lack of historical passing game, but it's pretty hard to square that when you compare them to the Packers.

As always, we gave our guest first choice on where to draft, and Jeff took the obvious choice and went first with Walter Payton. Arguably it's a one-player draft, as this was the most obvious first pick in perhaps all of our drafts so far. Liss went second and went with Gale Sayers, another obvious choice in terms of name recognition and per-season production, if not cumulative production. This was a theme in Liss's draft - he counts on you not digging into the numbers. I went positional scarcity with the first of my two picks, taking Mike Ditka as the clear top tight end, and pairing him with Matt Forte.

Here are the full results of our draft, first in overall order, followed by a per-team breakdown.

RDTeamPlayer
1MansWalter Payton
1LissGale Sayers
1EricksonMike Ditka
2EricksonMatt Forte
2LissSid Luckman
2MansNeal Anderson
3MansJohnny Morris
3LissBronko Nagurski
3EricksonThomas Jones
4EricksonAlshon Jeffery
4LissBrandon Marshall
4MansWillie Gault
5MansJim McMahon
5LissRed Grange
5EricksonMarty Booker
6EricksonAllen Robinson
6LissDevin Hester
6MansGreg Olsen
7MansCurtis Conway
7LissRobbie Gould
7EricksonKevin Butler
8EricksonHarlon Hill
8LissTarik Cohen
8MansTom Waddle
9MansPaul Edinger
9LissGeorge Halas
9EricksonJay Cutler

Results By Team:

PosMansLissErickson
QBJim McMahonSid LuckmanJay Cutler
RBWalter PaytonGale SayersMatt Forte
RBNeal AndersonBronko NagurskiThomas Jones
WRJohnny MorrisBrandon MarshallAlshon Jeffery
WRWillie GaultDevin HesterMarty Booker
TEGreg OlsenGeorge HalasMike Ditka
FlexCurtis ConwayRed GrangeAllen Robinson
FlexTom WaddleTarik CohenHarlon Hill
KPaul EdingerRobbie GouldKevin Butler

Do yourself a favor and look at the production totals from Red Grange and George Halas. Seriously, they are great names, but not for what they did on the field for the Bears.

Who had the best draft? Who did we leave out in the draft? Let us know in the comments!

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jeff Erickson
Jeff Erickson is a co-founder of RotoWire and the only two-time winner of Baseball Writer of the Year from the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. He's also in the FSWA Hall of Fame. He roots for the Reds, Bengals, Red Wings, Pacers and Northwestern University (the real NU).
Chris Liss
Chris Liss was RotoWire's Managing Editor and Host of RotoWire Fantasy Sports Today on Sirius XM radio from 2001-2022.
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