The Chicago Bears were too cute addressing the offensive line
Here we go, folks. This is probably the biggest mistake the team has made this offseason. Clearly, the Chicago Bears wanted to make a change to the offensive line after a poor 2019 performance. This would be why Matt Nagy made some significant coaching changes. It was mentioned a few times that the team does not believe it was a talent issue as much as they believe it was a scheme issue. I beg to differ.
I will not bash Charles Leno as much as others. He had a horrific 2019 season, but he has been consistently average to slightly above average for a few years now leading up to last year. I would expect that he can bounce back in 2020. The guy I do not trust is on the opposite side of Leno.
Bobby Massie has been nothing more than average to below average during his time here in Chicago. Last season was the icing on the cake for me and I would have brought in a new right tackle. Maybe Ryan Pace believes that much in Jason Spriggs. Rumors are that Pace wanted to draft Spriggs in the second round in 2016, but the Packers took him one pick before. Pace traded back and ended up with Cody Whitehair instead. Turned out to be the better move.
To help the line, Pace did bring in Germain Ifedi. He is slotted to play right guard in place of Rashaad Coward. Coward is a project and the fact he had to start as often as he did in 2019 was disappointing. If only Kyle Long could have stayed healthy. I like the Ifedi move to be honest, but I would have preferred a bigger name with more proven talent at either the guard spot or the right tackle position. Diving into the discount bin headfirst is not an ideal way to solve things.
Although the Chicago Bears made some poor choices, I believe the team’s good choices outweigh the bad ones. On paper, this team is easily better than what it had in 2018 and the defense could find ways to be even better than its 2018 performance. NFC North title anyone?