Chicago Bears: Offensive Line Turned Into A Strength In One Offseason

The Chicago Bears made a concerted effort to improve an offensive line that took a beating both on the field and in public perception. With the additions, the unit looks like a strength now and not a weakness.

For the Chicago Bears, this offseason might be a turning point in the history of the franchise. General manager Ryan Pace is on the hot seat and needed a strong rebuilding in order to cool that seat. Of course, the overwhelming thought was that he had to find his quarterback, the leader of the offense. He tried his best, targeting two of the top quarterbacks in the league, Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson.

While Pace just made inquiries on Watson, he made a huge offer for Wilson. The Seattle Seahawks, however, had no intention of trading their own franchise quarterback. Not even the Bears’ incredible offer changed their minds. They rejected the offer and Pace went to Plan B.

That plan ended up being Andy Dalton. Going from possibly having Wilson to ending up with Dalton made the fans angry. The negative feelings they had before the signing went up a notch. Chicago Bears Nation felt that Pace was a dead man standing and the new general manager would have a top-five pick to start.

Then the draft started and things magically changed. Pace pulled the trigger on a trade to move up for Justin Fields in the first round. That brought happiness to Chicago. When the fans at the Chicago White Sox game found out about the deal they gave a standing ovation.

Pace wasn’t done, though. In the second round, he picked up offensive lineman Teven Jenkins. Many draft analysts projected Jenkins to go to the Bears in the first round. Picking up their quarterback and then the offensive lineman they wanted earlier was another win for Pace. He wanted more, however. Now that he had his quarterback, he insisted on protecting him. He went and drafted another lineman, Larry Borom.

The offensive line was a priority

Even before the draft, Pace put a priority on the offensive line. During the 2020 season, the coaching staff found a good combination to strengthen the interior part of the line. Cody Whitehair moved over to left guard, Sam Mustipher took over at center, and Alex Bars held the right guard spot. James Daniels, who was the Bears’ best lineman before a torn pectoral muscle ended his season, takes over for Bars. That gives the Bears a starting-caliber guard as a backup.

Pace also signed Elijah Wilkinson. Wilkinson gives the Bears another starting-level lineman in the rotation. Additionally, the Bears’ two draft picks from last year, Lachavious Simmons and Arlington Hambright should be ready to compete.

Many experts felt that the weakness of the line was now the tackle bookends. Pace took care of that. He cut right tackle Bobby Massie in a surprise move. He re-signed Germain Ifedi, who did a good job filling in for an injured Massie last season.

After drafting Jenkins, Pace and the Bears felt they had their left tackle. Pace cut left tackle Charles Leno Jr. That leaves the talented but untested Jenkins to take over the quarterback’s blindspot. Offensive line coach Juan Castillo will have to really work with Jenkins and help him get ready to face elite pass rushers.

Suddenly, the Chicago Bears have themselves a different type of offensive line. They have players with starting experience as backups. Also, they have multiple players who can play multiple positions along the line. That gives Castillo a lot of flexibility. In previous seasons, when a lineman went down, the coaching staff needed to shuffle things around and ended up having inexperienced players take over. That caused a lot of problems.

Jenkins and Borom also add some mean, nasty players to the line. The line sorely lacked this aspect. The unit needs players who take it personally when their quarterback gets sacked. They also need to show the opponents that they won’t get pushed around.

That won’t happen now with this unit. If someone goes down now, there will be someone with some experience taking over. The unit transformed from being a big weakness in the offense to become a strength. If the unit does the job as expected, this offense will bloom. With Dalton (or Fields) well protected, there will be a lot of big plays. Also, running back David Montgomery will have big holes to run through. He does a great job of running through small holes so imagine how many big plays he’ll make in this offense.

While everyone is giddy over the Fields pick, the work Pace did a fantastic job of overhauling the offensive line. It’ll be a pleasure watching how well this offense flows with a strong offensive line.