Bears gamble with late draftees

The Bears postponed their free-agent frenzy until Monday, thesecond day of the draft. They bet the rest of the league that BillTobin and his small scouting staff could get better players fromseven extra middle- and late-round picks than the others could getfrom sifting through the unprotected free agents on NFL rosters.Their strategy underscored two points.

First, the worst fear of Bear fans should not be that coach MikeDitka will retire before the last of this year's rookies, whichprobably is unavoidable. It should be that another team will lureTobin away with its eagerness to give him greater scouting resourcesand a bigger bank account, which probably is …