It was 1997 and I sat down with the late and greatest football player of all time, Walter Payton, at his Aurora Roundhouse Restaurant to begin working with him on the first of a weekly column for my newspaper chain.
He seemed agitated that I wasn’t eating my lunch at his restaurant—because I had already eaten lunch. It was their famed prauns. They were truly the biggest prauns I had ever seen and maybe I feared they’d been mutated through radiation as much as I was just full from eating lunch already. I finally I gave in and ate some of them.
While talking to him for the first time in collaborating on that column, I had to ask him in an unrelated topic about the coin flip before Super Bowl XX.
I asked him this because it had always been my belief he saw the coin hit the ground and called the toss too late but got away with it.
Captain Payton waited until after the coin was in the air and it hit the ground, then he made the call, it seemed. Watch the video.
With a real big grin and twinkle in his eye—a really big twinkle—he gave a kind of chuckle and said I didn’t know what I was talking about.
It was obvious he’d been told this before and he mumbled something about maybe the sound on the NBC telecast was slightly off from their picture.
When the coin hits the turf, all bets are off, except in that case.
Anyway, the coin has hit the turf on mock drafts. Deadline came at 9 a.m. Thursday. The best mock drafters’ efforts are in for this year, at least the best mock drafters according to The Huddle Report.
The Huddle Report gathers mocks and posts standings to let everyone know who is most accurate. Only one of the top 10 from the last five years was not obviously posted as of draft morning by 9, but somehow at the last second the most accurate mock drafter of all Jason Boris, made it in at the coin flip. Or did he?
At least it seemed like he may have made it after the coin hit the turf but he has made it.
Believe me, there are a lot of mock drafters scrambling around this morning, hoping they could get an edge by getting a last-second trade into their mock so they look more accurate.
Here’s who the top 10 mock drafters over the last five years say the Bears are taking, after they made it in under this deadline.
1. Jason Boris, Times News
DT Mason Graham
“The Bears are high on Ashton Jeanty, but unless they trade up here, he likely won’t be available here. With two second-round picks, they could still maneuver. For now, the pick is Graham–a top-five talent who slides slightly due to positional value,” Boris wrote.
2. Brendan Donahue, Sharp Football Analysis
TE Tyler Warren
Donahue had Omarion Hampton mocked to them in an earlier draft. His last posted before today at 8 a.m. explained the pick.
“It seems clear that Ashton Jeanty is at the top of the Bears’ wish list, but unless they are willing to trade up, it doesn’t seem likely that he will fall to them at 10,” Donahue wrote.
3. Xavier Cromartie, Fantasy Football Metrics
DE Shemar Stewart
“The Bears may value Stewart’s rare athleticism, combined with their significant need at edge,” Cromartie wrote.
4. Lou Pickney, Mock Draft NFL
TE Tyler Warren
“Warren set school records at Penn State for tight end receptions/yardage and won the 2024 John Mackey Award, given annually to the most outstanding tight end in college football,” Pickney wrote.
5. Mike Band, Roster Watch
TE Tyler Warren
(No comment made)
6. Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune
T Kelvin Banks Jr.
“GM Ryan Poles would consider any of top three tackles (Campbell, Membou or Banks) or an edge rusher (likely Williams), but Banks is the last man standing,” Brown wrote.
7. Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz, USA Today
T Kelvin Banks Jr.
“With Jeanty and Warren off the board, general manager Ryan Poles can train his focus on the trenches. Banks would allow the Bears not to pin the hopes of their rebuilt offensive line on left tackle Braxton Jones, who is still recovering from a fractured left ankle suffered in December,” Middlehurst-Schwartz wrote.
8. Ryan McCrystal, Sharp Football Analysis
TE Tyler Warren
“The Bears have a capable tight end in Cole Kmet under contract through 2027, but Warren would be an upgrade. Kmet’s contract is also structured in such a way that Chicago can save some money by moving on after the 2025 season,” McCrystal wrote.
9. Brian Philpot, The Football Hub
DT Mason Graham
“The Bears miss out on the top offensive tackles but get a top 5 talent with the disruptive DT,” wrote Philpot, who had Jeanty as his previous call.
10. Jared Smola, Draft Sharks
T Kelvin Banks Jr.
“Don’t be surprised if the Bears make a move up to pick No. 4 or 5 for Jeanty. But in this scenario, they continue to fortify the offensive line with Banks, a three-year college starter who can play LT or kick inside to guard,” Smola wrote.