FanPost

A Smurfy NFC North Part 3: Bettys

This will be my last post in this series as I feel we all bit pick the Lions up, down, side to side, back and forth, and oh it feels so good. My goal with these write ups was to give us some insight into our division rivals and see how they came out of the draft compared to us. Here is my take on the Chicago Bettys (nicknamed after Betty White).

Players added: TE Brandon Manumaleuna, DE Julius Peppers, RB Chester Taylor, CB Tim Jennings

Players lost: OT Orlando Pace, RB Kevin Jones, FB Jason McKie, CB Nathan Vasher, DE Alex Brown, DE Adewale Ogunleye

Major Needs: S, OT, OG, WR, CB, LB

Round 3, Pick 11 (75), Major Wright, FS, 5'11", 206, Florida, NFL.com Grade 6.8

NFL.com Pick Analysis: The Bears have struggled at safety over the past few years, and the selection of Major Wright is an attempt to finally shore up the spot. He has solid overall skills, and gives Chicago a steady presence in the middle of the field. Given the team's preference for playing two-deep coverage, Wright's consistent play is a welcome addition.

Round 4, Pick 11 (109), Corey Wootton, DE, 6'6", 270, Northwestern, NFL.com Grade 7.9

NFL.com Pick Analysis: The Bears add an underrated defensive player with the selection of Corey Wootton. The versatile playmaker has the size and skills to play multiple positions along the line, and has the potential to emerge as a playmaker in the Bears' up-field rush scheme. A torn ACL in 2008 hindered his play last season, but he could outplay his draft status as he regains his health in future years.

Round 5, Pick 10 (141), Joshua Moore, DB, 5'11", 188, Kansas State, NFL.com Grade 2.1

NFL.com Pick Analysis: The Bears add another corner for depth in their secondary with the selection of Joshua Moore. The Bears have struggled in the back end over the past few seasons, and Moore becomes another player that will compete for time at the position.

Round 6, Pick 12 (181), Dan LeFevour, QB, 6'3", 230, Central Michigan, NFL.com Grade 6.4

NFL.com Pick Analysis: Jay Cutler is entrenched as the Bears' starting quarterback, but Chicago lacks an experienced backup. LeFevour was considered by some to be one of the best quarterbacks in the draft, and is a good value at this point. He will be able to learn from Mike Martz and develop slowly behind Cutler.

Round 7, Pick 11 (218), J'Marcus Webb, OT, 6'8", 328, West Texas AM

NFL.com Pick Analysis: As a small-school prospect with exceptional size, Webb is a long-term prospect that could eventually develop into a solid backup for the Bears. Webb has decent athleticism for his size, but will need to get stronger at the pro level.

Summary: I have to say that looking at the Bettys draft they actually did pretty good for not having a first or second round pick. Acquiring Jay Cutler may very well be the worst move of this draft and while any move in hindsight can be criticized you have to think it was a good move at the time. All I can say is thank God he is not a Lion.

Major Wright was a good value that met a huge need for the Bettys and will help shore up their leaky secondary this year. While Corey Wootton was not a need the value there was just too great for them to resist and this guy will definately upgrade their pass rush once he is healthy. Fortunately for us the Bettys just did not have enough picks to meet all of he needs and taking Joshua Moore is not going to do much to help out at corner back. Dan LeFevour was a sneaky pick here, Cutler may not be the QB of the future for the Bettys. If Martz can last more than a year or two without imploding the team here is the Bettys real QB of the future. J'Marcus Webb is going to get run over a lot before he has any chance of being a solid starter in this league. All in all the bears did what they could with the picks they had but it just is not enough. They solidified the safety position and upgraded their pass rush, however none of the other picks will help much if at all. Unable to address starting caliber needs at CB, OT, OG, WR (jump ball end zone target), or LB (depth for the oft injured vets) the Bettys are going to be the bitches of the NFC North this year.

I have to say that on paper the Bettys look to have more holes than the Lions. Julius Peppers is collecting his last big payday and even in his hey days you could run all over him. On top of that his large salary has caused them to weaken the other end position unless an injured rookie can step up for them. Their running back and quarterback play will suffer greatly again this year without any significant help at guard or tackle. Their defense though a bit better than last year by just staying healthy still has a very suspect secondary and they have no real red zone threats at the wide receiver position. Both Knox and Hester are smaller home run guys but they struggle to get the jump balls in the end zone. I fully expect us to win both games against the Bettys this year. We lost both games to the Bettys last season, Oct 4th, DET 24 @ CHI 48 and Jan 3rd, CHI 37 @ DET 23. That was a margin of -24 and -14. We all know that both of those games were a lot closer than the score indicated and the later game we almost won with Daunte "teardrop" Culpepper, which shows exactly how bad the Bettys were without Urlacher. Not only do they have personnel issues with players but we all know what Martz and Marinelli can do for a team. Will the dynamic duo set another NFL record by leading the Bettys to an 0-16 season?

Lets take a look component by component so you all can digest this:

QB = Even, RB = Even, FB = Lions, WR = Lions, TE = Lions, O-Line = Lions, Lions +4

D-Line = Even, LB = Bears, CB = Even, S = Lions, +0

K = Even, KR = Bears, Bears +1

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pride Of Detroit or its writers.