Bears Offensive Line Shuffle Continues
The fallout from Friday night’s 24-17 preseason loss to the Carolina Panthers hit the field during Sunday’s practice. The offensive line left a lot to be desired in the loss, especially starting right tackle J’Marcus Webb. Webb was held accountable for his poor play, including giving up a sack of Jay Cutler, by being demoted to the second team.
Head coach Marc Trestman announced that rookie Jordan Mills would be taking the bulk of the snaps with the first team at right tackle, playing alongside fellow rookie Kyle Long while stopping short of saying he’s sending a message to JWebb:
"“I think we’ve been very clear with J’Marcus about what we’re doing,” Trestman said. “I said it last week that there’s been an up-and-down performance level by J’Marcus but we were still going to do this. We were still going to give work to the other guys and see what they could do as well. So we’ll evaluate it. We’re going to go through the week like this. We’ll evaluate the game and move forward into Oakland.”"
I have to admit I’m a little surprised that Mills was given the nod to run with the 1’s, but I have to guess that’s more to do with the fact that Jonathan Scott is still nursing a sore knee. If Scott were healthy, I’d have to think that he’s at least get the first shot to start at right tackle.
I’d be surprised if the Bears started the season with a pair of rookies on the right side. Long is expected by most observers to move into a starting role and a strong performance with the 1’s this week would secure that.
Webb worked with the second unit on the left side and isn’t sure what his status will be going forward.
The key for the Bears will be to settle on a line sooner rather than later. You’d love to see the starting group together by the time the Bears face Oakland in the third preseason game.
What do you think? What line configuration would you like to see the Bears go with by the time the Bengals come to town on September 8th?