In response to Sunday’s comments from rookie left tackle Chris Williams confirming that he had a herniated disc in his back when the Chicago Bears used the fourteenth overall pick on him in April — and that the team knew it — G.M. Jerry Angelo sounded off.

“Nobody was trying to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes,” Angelo said.  “Nobody is covering their ass.”

The controversy arose from whether Williams’ recent surgery to correct the condition was a new injury or an old injury.  Based on Williams’ comments from Sunday, it looks like it’s just a matter of semantics; he admitted that the disc was herniated and that it moved during an early training-camp practice.

But Angelo insists that the Bers haven’t been lying about the situation.

“Nobody is twisting the truth of embellishing it,” Angelo said.  “I could give a sh-t.  [Editor’s note:  The article in the Chicago Tribune contains only a “[bleep]”.  We assume he said sh-t.]  I could give a sh-t.  [Editor’s note:  See prior Editor’s note.]  If we screwed up, I would tell you, ‘We screwed up.’  Hey, if we said this was 50-50 and we just rolled the dice, I would tell you that.”

Angelo’s remarks were the direct result of the impression, based on Williams’ admission, that the team had lied.

But they did.  And anyone with an ounce of common sense realizes it.  On Sunday, we ran a link to Williams’ introductory press conference with the team, during which he strongly suggested that he was and is healthy.

The reality is that the Bears assumed that Williams’ herniated disc wouldn’t become a problem, because he had played with it.  They were wrong.  And they understandly didn’t want to talk about his condition after the draft in order to avoid criticism that would be irrelevant if the disc never became a problem.

But it became a problem, and now Angelo has only made it worse by trying to make it better.

While the Bears clearly needed a left tackle in the draft, they passed over Branden Albert, Gosder Cherilus, Jeff Otah, and Sam Baker, each of whom were selected in the next seven picks.

That’s the real basis for the criticism.  They had other options, but they took the guy who was damaged goods.  They took a risk, it blew up in their faces, and Angelo’s decision to blow up at the media isn’t changing that.