Direction Of Chicago Bears Hinges On New General Manager Hire

As a Chicago Bears fan, I've been extremely frustrated with the direction of the team over the past several years.  Not necessarily with how it's been coached by Lovie Smith, but rather the direction of player acquisitions.

To me, the first bad move was getting Jay Cutler.  Don't get me wrong, I actually love Jay and think he could easily become the greatest quarterback in Bears' history.

It's a bad move for two reasons.

• The Bears gave up too much to get him (two first-round picks in 2009 and 2010 for starters)  
• Once they had him, they didn't get anyone else.  No top-flight wide receivers, no highly-ranked offensive lineman.  They even went out of their way to trade away Cutler's best target in tight end Greg Olsen this past off-season.

The lack of acquiring additional offensive talent is what bugs me the most.  Why get Cutler when you weren't going to get weapons for him? It's like if I spent $2,000 on a computer on which I only read email and played solitaire.

There are some decent options going forward.  If you select anyone that's currently in the organization for the GM spot, then I'm not going to expect much difference in the way things are run. I also don't want them to get Bill Polian.  All you have to do is look at the 2011 Colts to know what kind of a job that guy has done.

However, if you select someone from outside, like Reggie McKenzie from the Packers or Eric DeCosta of the Ravens, it will signal that the Bears are going to be more aggressive.  Certainly, the Bears are going to need some astute judgements in the near future.  The defense is aging, and it would be nice to finally upgrade all those offensive positions that Angelo neglected.