Thanks to one shrewd move, Angelo's star on the rise

Man, the public perception of Jerry Angelo sure has been upgraded since he traded for Jay Cutler.

The Bears' general manager is sort of like Barack Obama after the Iowa primary, Mickey Rourke after "The Wrestler", and the Tampa Bay Rays after the 2008 season.

Angelo's image makeover was magnified during an uneventful NFL draft performance over the weekend.

The confidence football fans have in a draft pick generally depends on the confidence they have in the draft picker.

So, the Bears traded out of the first two rounds of the draft? No problem. Angelo will pick up scrappers from the scraps.

A draft choice has a DUI on his resume from when he was in college? No problem. Angelo probably had the FBI check him out.

Angelo hasn't traded for Arizona's Anquan Boldin yet? No problem. The Cardinals must not want to deal him.

You get the idea. Even before making a draft pick, Angelo became a trustworthy GM during the past month.

Let's face it, not many of us break away from Twittering long enough to break down tape on potential fifth-round offensive guards.

More likely we watch a bunch of college games every autumn, listen to what Brent Musburger screams at us about a player, and talk like we know something.

Better to evaluate the evaluators than the players, don't you think?

If Bill Polian takes somebody for the Colts, wow, the guy probably can play. If Al Davis takes that same player for the Raiders, whoa, this guy must be a bust.

So, where does Angelo fit on the confidence meter now?

On a scale of Polian to Davis, the impression suddenly is Angelo is Vince Lombardi. That's compared to a month ago when Angelo resided in myriad Bear fans' minds between the "Al" and the "Davis" in Oakland.

I always was an Angelo supporter, but to be honest, he was starting to make even me wonder what was going on. Impatience was replacing the benefit of doubt moving out.

Too many Bears draft choices went from "we were surprised he was available" to "we were surprised he didn't make it."

Can you say Dan Bazuin?

Then Angelo made the one move that changed everything, especially the perception of him.

Can you say Jay Cutler?

Now the Bears have a general manager who brought a Pro Bowl quarterback to Chicago. Cutler might never be a Pro Bowl quarterback again, but right now he's not just a Pro Bowl quarterback. He's the Bears' Pro Bowl quarterback.

Cutler is like what the new Soldier Field is to the old Soldier Field. Even if he isn't the eighth wonder of the NFL, he has to be better than the Bears have had the past 60 years.

So Angelo no longer is the general manager who gave us a series of quarterbacks who played like quarter-pounders.

Now he's the GM bold enough to part with a considerable bounty of assets to acquire hope at quarterback.

The esteem the man on the streets of Chicago has for the man in the front office in Lake Forest grew immeasurably.

The Bears, their fans and Angelo himself can only hope that perception really is reality because grace periods can end at the drop of a football around here.