At 8:07 p.m. Thursday night, the capacity crowd filling the Auditorium Theater screamed in excitement, literally shaking the building to its foundation. Thousands more outside, across Michigan Avenue in the NFL's Draft Town, had the same ecstatic reaction. The Bears, slotted to pick at No. 11, had traded up to the ninth pick in the first round through a trade with Tampa Bay and were suddenly on the clock.
Three minutes later, the pick was phoned in, from Halas Hall in Lake Forest to the Bears' table downtown. When Georgia outside linebacker Leonard Floyd was announced by Commissioner Roger Goodell as the team's selection, the crowd erupted in joy yet again.