C'mon Jay, it's a press conference, not a mug shot...

One of my favorite mock drafts is NFLDraftScout.com since they have four different mock drafts on one page, but as of the night of Sunday, April 5th, they've still got Chicago picking 18th. Our own SB Nation mock draft conducted by the NFL writers of SB Nation is going to get a reboot and has been shut down until Monday. ESPN's Todd McShay has adjusted and thinks USC QB Mark Sanchez is the big winner because he falls no further than Denver at pick 12. But Steve Wyche at NFL.com expects the 49ers to select Sanchez with the 10th overall selection and Denver will add DT B.J. Raji at 12th and LB James Laurinaitis with Chicago's former selection at 18 to rebuild the middle of their defense.

I'm still impressed by the trade. QB Kyle Orton had a much better 2008 then anyone outside of the Bears' coaching staff expected, they drafted promising rookie RB Matt Forte, and they were still only ranked 21st passing and 24th rushing at NFL.com and the same by Football Outsiders. They could have tinkered with the offensive line, and added some better receivers, but they've been trying to do that for the last 15 seasons without much success. Instead they trade two middle 1st round draft picks for a 25 year old Pro Bowl QB. That's a move the Bears had to make. And I'm looking forward to QB Aaron Rodgers outplaying Cutler over the next few seasons.

Still ericj69 at Daily Norseman was not impressed; the Vikings won the division in 2008 and Cutler still has to beat them:

While I've never been a huge fan of Cutler, I'm fully aware that he would have been a big upgrade on the Vikings. The 2009 Bears definitely look like a more formidable opponent now. As Wes Mantooth might say, I hate the Bears, but I respect the move. But if you think that Cutler instantly transforms the Bears into the NFC North favorite, I disagree. The Vikings are NFC North champions until further notice, thank you very much.

Sean at Pride of Detroit agrees with Lions' management; giving up two 1st round picks for a proven QB is too much when they are trying to rebuild:

That is quite the package, and based on Tom Lewand's comments that I posted earlier today, the Lions weren't willing to give up quite that much, nor did they have a decent QB to give the Broncos in return.