The Bears drafted offensive tackle Stan Thomas with their first-round pick in 1991 when they could have drafted Brett Favre.
That was four coaches and four personnel directors ago.
A lot of teams have kicked themselves for missing Favre. The Packers missed him too. Not until general manager Ron Wolf arrived in 1992 did he trade a first-round draft choice to Atlanta for the Falcons’ second-round rookie quarterback who sat on the bench and was late to meetings.
Every team ends up kicking itself in the 20/20 hindsight of draft day. Some teams kick themselves more often than others. The Bears have so many bruises up and down their behinds they no longer can sit down and enjoy this time of year.
To remind that the Bears picked Thomas over Favre isn’t exactly fair even though it’s exactly true. They don’t even play the same position. After all, the Bears needed an offensive tackle. That was the year coach Mike Ditka and personnel director Bill Tobin blamed team President Michael McCaskey for dictating an offensive tackle in the first round, not that anybody in the building was clamoring for Favre instead.
It marked the beginning of the end of the Ditka regime. The end of the end is still not in sight, as the Bears enter next weekend’s draft as the NFL’s No. 32 offense.
Can we get a do-over?
Since the Stan Thomas fiasco in 1991–his Chicago career lasted 26 games–the Bears have spent 10 first- or second-round draft choices on offensive skill positions. Can’t argue with Curtis Conway (1993) and Rex Grossman (2003), but here’s Don Pierson’s hindsight plan:
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YEAR BEARS PICKED SHOULD HAVE PICKED
1995 RB Rashaan Salaam (21st) RB Curtis Martin (74th)
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1996 WR Bobby Engram (52nd) WR Terrell Owens (89th)
1997 QB Rick Mirer (trade) QB Jake Plummer (42nd)
1997 TE John Allred (38th) TE Freddie Jones (45th)
1998 RB Curtis Enis (5th) RB Fred Taylor (9th)
1999 QB Cade McNown-a (12th) QB Daunte Culpepper (11th)
2001 WR David Terrell (8th) WR Santana Moss-b (16th)
2001 RB Anthony Thomas (38th) RB Travis Henry (58th)
More offensive hindsight fantasies since 1990:
YEAR BEARS PICKED SHOULD HAVE PICKED
1990 QB Peter Tom Willis (63rd) QB Neil O’Donnell (70th)
1990 C Bill Anderson (176th) TE Shannon Sharpe (192nd)
1993 TE Chris Gedney (61st) TE Frank Wycheck (160th)
1994 T Marcus Spears (39th) G Larry Allen (46th)
1995 G Evan Pilgrim (87th) G Adam Timmerman (230th)
1996 T Jon Clark (187th) G Marco Rivera (208th)
2000 WR Dez White (69th) WR Laveranues Coles (78th)
2000 K Paul Edinger (174th) QB Tom Brady (199th)
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a-Bears traded down from 7th; b-or Reggie Wayne (30th), Todd Heap (31st), Alge Crumpler (35th), Chad Johnson (36th), Robert Ferguson (41st), Chris Chambers (52nd) or Steve Smith (74th).