While the Packers were busy putting their 6-10 2008 campaign behind them with another win on the loose turf of Soldier Field, the Bears are doing their best to make sure that the 2006 Super Bowl run is nothing but a distant memory.

The Bears slide from contender to playoff bystanders can, much like the building of winning franchise, be tracked back many years. From failed draft picks to poor free agent acquisitions the Bears began digging this hole well before the start of the 2009 season. The addition of Jay Cutler may have put a band-aid on the wound that was slowly opening, but what you have seen over the past nine games is the culmination of poor management that will likely, and hopefully, cost a few men their jobs.

When the Bears brought Jerry Angelo over from Tampa Bay, they were coming off of a fluke season in which they went 13-3. Shane Matthews was heaving last second hail mary's down the field and Mike Brown was making pick 6's look commonplace. Anthony Thomas was still the "A-Train" and Brian Urlacher and Roosevelt Colvin were leading a stout and young defense. But we all knew it was smoke and mirrors, and when it came draft time, Angelo got his first crack at trying to build on the Bears peculiar, but winning ways.

Jerry Angelo and the Bears of the 2000's

2002 - The Bears need help on the offensive line. With pick 29 they select Marc Colombo, now a starter in Dallas. Colombo's career as a Bear is short lived and after many injuries he is released in 2005. In round two they may have been playing off of the success of their other Roosevelt, selecting Roosevelt Williams and guard Terrence Metcalf in round three, neither panned out. You know the old saying about too many Roosevelt's on one sideline. Angelo does nab Alex Brown in Round 4 and Adrian Peterson in Round 6, but missing with top picks is never good.

2003 - After 2002 goes horribly wrong, the Bears finishing 4-12, they have two first round picks lined up after trading out of the fourth spot with the New York Jets. With pick 13 they take DE Michael Haynes and with the 22nd pick they take Rex Grossman. Charles Tillman and Lance Briggs are taken in the second and third rounds respectively, solidifying what would become an extremely tough defense. Wide receivers Bobby Wade and Justin Gage are taken in Round 5. Ian Scott was taken in Round 4, and was fairly productive in the 2006 Super Bowl run, if you can remember that far back.

Kordell Stewart is brought in to play QB and surprise, he sucked.

Wade's fumbly ways eventually sent him packing and Gage never caught on. Haynes was never the player he was projected to be and we all know Grossman's story. Again, failure at the top over shadows his great finds in the later rounds.

Coach Dick Jauron is fired following the season.

2004 - Lovie Smith is hired. The Bears improved to 7-9 in 2003 with Kordell Stewart and Chris Chandler taking the snaps, yeah you read that right, and in the 2004 draft Jerry selected Tommie Harris with the 14th overall pick. He follows that with Tank Johnson in the second round, Bernard Berrian in the third and Nathan Vasher in the fourth. Tommie becomes the key to the rise and the fall of this defense. Nathan Vasher, who once appeared to be a promising player has struggled the last two seasons and Bernard Berrian was deemed to expensive to retain. Harris and Berrian addressed key needs at the time,

The Bears start four quarterbacks in 2004, including Craig Krenzel, Chad Hutchinson, Jonathan Quinn and Grossman. Free agent acquisition Thomas Jones carries the load that A-Train appears unlikely to be able to handle, leading the team in rushing and receptions. The Bears finish the season 5-11.

2005 - The Bears sign Mushin Muhammed in the off-season and appear to need speed at WR, ignoring the fact they have Berrian who will become a downfield threat almost exclusively. They seem unwilling to let Thomas Jones be the man and enter the draft looking for a running back, some OL help (the Bears gave up 66 sacks, most in NFL in 2004) and as they had for years, a TE.

With the fourth overall pick they select Cedric Benson, despite concerns about his off field issues at Texas. They follow that with Mark Bradley in the second round and Kyle "Orkman" Orton in the third. They never address the OL.

The defense is now at its peak and with Grossman out with a pre-season ankle injury it is Kyle Orton who leads the team with his mistake free conservative style under center. The Bears are 26th in the NFL in points scored but 1st in points allowed. Orton goes 10-5 as a starter but is pulled in favor of Grossman for the first round of the playoffs. The Bears lose 29-21 to the Panthers.

BTW, Aaron Rodgers is selected in the first round with the 24th overall pick in 2005.

2006 - Following the disappointment of 2005's early exit from the post season, the Bears have to be confident in their defense. An injury to Tank Johnson might be their only concern. The Bears are still looking for a TE to stretch the field and a real receiver wouldn't hurt. Oh, and that OL is still in trouble.

The Bears trade the 26th pick of the first round to the Bills for their second and third round picks. The Bears take in order: Daniel Manning, Devin Hester, Dusty Dvoracek, Jamar Williams and Mark Anderson. At the time all were defensive picks for a team that finished 2nd in defense and 29th in offense.

Hester turned out to be one of the biggest surprises of the entire draft and Mark Anderson had a great rookie season. The Bears rode their defense and special teams all the way to the Super Bowl where eventually their lack of offense came back to haunt them.

As a side note, Hester was selected five picks after the Packers chose a WR from Western Michigan, Greg Jennings. Manning was taken 10 picks prior to the Jennings pick. Jay Cutler is taken 11th overall by the Broncos and Brandon Marshall 119th.

2007 - It all begins to catch up with the Bears. Tank Johnson has been jailed in the off-season, Briggs was franchised, which caused a stir, they traded Thomas Jones to the Jets for a second round pick, Lovie Smith tells us to believe and he acquires Adam Archuleta from the Redskins, and they traded safety Chris Harris (a nice 2005 late round pick) to the Panthers. They also let go of Ron Rivera and replaced him with Bob Babich another Lovie cohort.

The Bears offense still lacks that TE, and questions remain about Grossman, despite his torrid start to 2006. The Bears need what they still need today, a playmaker on offense. With the 31st pick they select Greg Olsen from Miami, exactly what they need, right? In the second round they take Dan Bazuin a DE and with two consecutive picks in the third round they take Garrett Wolfe and Michael Okwo (OLB). In the fourth they try for OL help selecting Josh Beekman. His next three picks are all DBs (Kevin Payne, Corey Graham and Trumaine McBride).

The defense began to slip a bit and we quickly learned that Archuleta could not play. Brian Greise, Grossman and Orton all made starts. Benson averages 3.4 yards per carry behind an aging offensive line and we see way to much of Adrian Peterson in the backfield. The Bears finish 7-9.

2008 - The off-season is another turbulent one. Chris Williams(?) is the Bears top pick in the draft at #14, an attempt to bolster that aging OL. Matt Forte is selected in the second round to help with a running game that was near the bottom in almost every category.

Following two arrests for various reasons, running back Cedric Benson is waived. Muhammed is let go and Berrian signs with the Vikings. With their top two receivers gone, the Bears fill the void with Marty Booker and Brandon Lloyd. Earl Bennett is taken in third round of the draft for added depth.

The Bears enter 2008 without their leaders in passing (Griese), rushing (Benson) and receiving (Berrian) from the previous season. Orton makes the majority of the starts in 2008 and the Bears finish 9-7, but still miss the playoffs. Despite Forte's solid season, the Bears are still near the bottom in rushing and the defense is now just a middle of the road unit that allows 21.9 points per game.

2009 - The Bears trade their 2009 first round pick (18th overall), their 2009 third round pick (84th overall), their 2010 first round pick and quarterback Kyle Orton for quarterback Jay Cutler and a 2009 fifth round pick (140th overall) from Denver that had originally belonged to Seattle.

The Bears draft in order: Jarron Gilbert DL, Juaquin Iglesias WR, Henry Melton DL, D.J. Moore DB, Johnny Knox WR, Marcus Freeman, Al Afalava, Lance Louis and Derek Kinder.

The offensive line has still not been addressed correctly, a situation which began around 2002. They now have what appears to be a franchise QB, but even before him they have never possessed a WR worth throwing to. The Hester solution is now in full swing, and it is not enough and with only one WR over six feet tall they are sorely lacking at the position. Multiple injuries to Tommie Harris and an aging and under performing DL have rendered Lovie's base defense useless and the season ending injury to Brian Urlacher only made things worse.

Years of poor drafts and misses in the free agent market have all culminated in what you are seeing in the 2009 season. I, personally, would do the Cutler trade again tomorrow, but the blame for the lack of talent around him at this point lies solely with Bears management.

The Bears will enter the 2010 season with no first round picks and because of the Gaines Adams trade, no second round picks either. They can ill afford to make mistakes in the 2010 draft and will most likely have to find some takers for some current players with little value if they want to move up in the draft.

The 2010 season could be an uncapped year in the NFL, though that is yet to be seen. Maybe Angelo and Co. are planning on reaching deep into the pockets and pulling off a deal. Barring that, the Bears could be in for a stretch of tough seasons.

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