Chicago Bears history with top ten draft picks

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Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

2000-2005

During this six-year period, the Bears picked three times in the top ten. While two of them were nothing to write home about, one of them turned out to be a future Hall of Fame player.

With pick number nine in the 2000 draft, the Bears chose safety Brian Urlacher out of New Mexico. He played thirteen seasons for the Bears, and soon will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Urlacher is another in the long line of hard hitting, great middle linebackers. He was a smart player, and always seemed to be around the ball.

Even though Urlacher played safety, the Bears moved him over to strong side linebacker. He struggled there, and head coach Dick Jauron benched him (imagine that!). It wasn’t until the starting middle linebacker Barry Minter got injured that Urlacher was inserted to the middle, and he never left.

Urlacher recorded 124 tackles and eight sacks, which were Bears rookie records. He was named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Urlacher led the comeback of the rough Chicago Bears defense. The season before he arrived in Chicago, the Bears ranked 29th in defense. With him leading the way, the Bears ranked in the top five five times.

Urlacher also helped lead the Bears to the 2006 Super Bowl, where they fell to the Indianapolis Colts.

In 2001, the Bears used their pick number eight to choose Michigan wide receiver David Terrell. Terrell played just four seasons, accumulating 1,602 yards and 9 touchdowns.

In 2005, the Bears used their fourth pick to select running back Cedric Benson out of Texas.

Benson held out in a contract dispute his rookie season and missed out on the entire Bears’ training camp. He claimed he would win the starting running back spot within three games, but that bold claim did not go over well with his teammates. He was upset at some of his teammates, and he would never be the answer to the Bears’ running game.

In 2008, after getting arrested two times in the span of five weeks, the Bears released Benson.

Cedric Benson is the last Chicago Bears pick in the top ten. Let’s hope they can have better luck with their top ten pick Thursday (if in fact they keep it).

Next: 2015 NFL Draft:Start Time, Television Info, Live Stream

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