Tell me the Chicago Bears offensive line isn’t a government operation
Three (of the four) rookie offensive linemen from non-Power 5 conferences were taking reps with the first team for the Chicago Bears Friday morning. The abysmal quest for general manager Ryan Poles to find five capable candidates to protect quarterback Justin Fields and open lanes for running back David Montgomery is proving harder in training camp than OTAs.
Poles whiffed in the offseason at the offensive line, missing out on signing guard Ryan Bates. The team seemed desperate in offseason practices to find a winning combination. Second-year offensive tackle Teven Jenkins admitted he wouldn’t be as strong after losing weight to fit the new regime’s standards. (Poles wanted to transition the offensive line into a group I’m nicknaming the “gutless wonders.”) Jenkins has since been left with the second team.
Head coach Matt Eberflus said this spring the team needed to try different combinations to find the best five. After OTAs, when responding to a question about Jenkins, Eberflus said this:
We’ll have a big meeting tomorrow with Ryan [Poles] and his staff, with all the coaches to reassess the whole roster before the players and the coaches go on break. That’ll be a real good meeting for us, and we’ll see where [Jenkins] is from there.”
The Bears’ response? Just before training camp they signed a veteran guard Michael Schofield and tackle Riley Reiff. No major help. Jenkins started out with the second team but has missed the previous two days of practice.
The Chicago Bears have to find a way to make tackles become guards and guards become centers
It’s a difficult task now for offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and offensive line coach Chris Morgan to figure out what to do with the unit following the injury to center Lucas Patrick. (Patrick’s timeline for a possible return is up in the air. It’s currently unknown if he will suit up for week one against the San Francisco 49ers.)
What does come to mind is a famous scene of Apollo 13. The one where the NASA crew had to fit square and round filters to keep the Apollo 13 astronauts free from the carbon dioxide issue. I’ll put it in Chicago Bears innuendo:
“Listen up. The people upstairs [Poles] handed us [Getsy and Morgan] this one and we have to come through. We have to find a way to make this [linemen roster filled with mediocre tackles] fit into the hole for this [left tackle, guards, center] using nothing but that [rookies taken in the 5th, 6th, and 7th rounds].”
Poles and Eberflus were watching the gutless wonders intently during drills at Friday’s Chicago Bears’ practice.
Overseeing O-line drills on one side is GM Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus. On the other side surveying drills is asst GM Ian Cunningham.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) July 29, 2022
The group is a disaster in the making right now for the Bears. They’re decidedly a much worse group than the one the Bears had last year that gave up 58 sacks. With Patrick gone, the team will most likely need to move Sam Mustipher or Cody Whitehair to center. Doug Kramer will not be ready to be the starting center this year.
Both of those solutions are problematic. The Bears have no reasonable answer to replace one of them at guard presently. Jenkins is rumored to be a possible guard candidate if he can’t make the roster at tackle. Guard Ja’Tyre Carter is a seventh-round pick, and will not be ready this season for meaningful snaps.
Schofield will probably be one of the better choices to duct tape the line, but he’s not a player who’d start on most NFL teams.
Zachery Thomas (tackle in college, practicing at guard with the Bears Friday), Larry Borom, and Braxton Jones could all be competing for a guard spot (or the right tackle spot?) with Jenkins–whenever he’s healthy.
(There are signs of worry in the coaches’ office if Eberflus thinks hiding Jenkin’s injury status in July gives the Chicago Bears offensive line a competitive advantage. It’s a running joke amongst Bears beat reporters how secretive the team is being.)
Matt Eberflus says 2nd yr O lineman Tevin Jenkins is day to day, working with a trainer. On his policy of staying tight-lipped on injuries: “if you don’t have to disclose injuries at this point, why would you?” Calls it a “competitive advantage” #Bears @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/YNVEFRTRYx
— Jackie Kostek (@JackieKostek) July 29, 2022
The present unit is a failure by the Chicago Bears’ management
It’s worth noting where the Chicago Bears rookies were drafted and from what weak conference they came from. Carter, Thomas, and Jones didn’t face the kind of fast and strong athletes on weekly basis that tend to get into the NFL. And they dominated those weaker and slower opponents at tackle, not at a position they have inexperience, guard.
Worse yet, this group is not ready for the incredibly difficult challenge of being ready to play a complicated running system. The outside zone scheme takes time to learn. It also takes experience, because linemen will have to perform “cutting” blocking techniques in the game that they can’t in practice. The Chicago Bears do not have enough veterans to transition this technique.
The gutless wonders will be painful to watch if this keeps up. Fields is going to have to scramble to make short passes. Poles will need to make another move to help this line that is sustaining injuries during Eberflus’ intense practices. Somebody needs to get some coffee going for Morgan and Getsy.
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