[bears9]

For the Bears, the preparation of a year's worth of work is entering the final stages. The team doesn't add prospects to its list at this point; it subtracts them. It's a whittling-down process that eventually leaves the organization with a draft board that has maybe 75 names.

But the Bears already have an idea about what the players can do on the field. There has been enormous manpower dedicated to background work on the players to get a feel for their intangibles. It's the work done when the prospects are whisked away in vans to area hospitals for tests that they're most curious about.

General manager Jerry Angelo already has said the offseason focus will be on offense, and that means in the draft as well as in free agency. The Bears didn't get a lot of support from their 2007 draft class and will have to be more productive this year to rebound from a 7-9 season. They hold the 14th pick in the first round and an extra selection in the third. Angelo talks about being able to get good players through the first four rounds, so that means a chance for five.

The focus, for now, is on what direction the Bears will take with their top pick. When Angelo was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, their drafts were studded with linemen, and that's a tradition he has carried on with the Bears. In six drafts, his first pick has been a linemen three times. With one of the strengths of the first round projected to be at offensive tackle -- and with the Bears having a need there -- it makes sense he'll go that way again. Michigan's Jake Long might be gone before the Bears pick, but five other tackles might be drafted in the first round: Boise State's Ryan Clady, Vanderbilt's Chris Williams, USC's Sam Baker, Pittsburgh's Jeff Otah and Boston College's Gosder Cherilus.

Angelo saw Boston College play twice in person during the season, and he wasn't necessarily there to watch only quarterback Matt Ryan, who might be the No. 1 pick. That choice is property of the Miami Dolphins, and they've let it be known the pick is in play. If Ryan is as good as some people say he is, then he might be worthy of going No. 1. It's a big-money commitment to be choosing there, but if the Bears are convinced Ryan will be the guy -- the franchise passer that hasn't been seen in these parts ever -- they at least have to consider a trade.

Offensive tackles likely have Angelo's attention :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Bears