Chicago Bears: Predicting the starting offensive line vs Titans

The Chicago Bears are in for a rough day with injuries to the offensive line

The first injury the Chicago Bears suffered to the offensive line was the loss of James Daniels for the season. Then the team lost Cody Whitehair in Week 7, but there was hope he’d be able to return in a few weeks. Even if Whitehair was healthy this week, he would not be able to play as he tested positive for COVID-19. Whitehair was not the only offensive lineman to test positive. Jason Spriggs also tested positive and until yesterday, Germain Ifedi was on the COVID/reserve list.

Luckily, Ifedi was only on the list because he was in close contact with Spriggs. He had tested negative for enough consecutive days to be allowed to return to team facilities and also play in the game on Sunday versus the Titans. This is important as the Chicago Bears also lost Bobby Massie to an injury in Week 8.

If you are keeping score at home, that means the Chicago Bears are going into Week 9 versus the Titans with three offensive line starters not able to play — it was almost four if Ifedi was not cleared in time. The thing is, this is not where it ends. Backup center Sam Mustipher has also been ruled out for Week 9 versus the Titans. This means the Bears are without three starters and two of their main backups in Mustipher and Spriggs.

Where does this leave the team in regards to a starting offensive line versus the Titans?

Left Tackle: Charles Leno

Obviously, Charles Leno is going to start at left tackle versus the Titans on Sunday. Leno started the season performing fairly well, but lately has been a liability. In his defense, this has a lot to do with having to play next to different left guards each week.

Leno is not an elite left tackle by any means and the Chicago Bears need to invest in one high in the 2021 NFL Draft, but in all honesty, the team has gotten everything it could out of the seventh-round pick. I do not see the team moving on from both Leno and Bobby Massie next year, but I could see them kicking Leno to right tackle and moving on from Massie while bringing in a high-quality prospect to take over the blindside.

Left Guard: Arlington Hambright

Right now, it would seem that Arlington Hambright will get the start at left guard. Had Sam Mustipher been able to play, Hambright would not be playing as Alex Bars would be starting here instead. This will be Hambright’s first action in the NFL and I am excited to see what the seventh-round pick can do. Let’s be honest, he cannot be any worse than Rashaad Coward.

Center: Alex Bars

To be honest, I am not sure why, but I have a feeling that Alex Bars will have to play center this week with Sam Mustipher out. I reached out to our Notre Dame guru Nathan Erbach to see if Bars had played any snaps as center in South Bend. He did not play a single snap at center, but I just cannot picture Hambright coming in and playing center to start his career. At least Bars has some NFL experience and he also seems versatile being able to play multiple positions.

Bars has had a rough go of it at times this season too, but I trust him here more than the other options available to the Bears this week.

Right Guard: Germain Ifedi

No reason to get too deep into this one. Ifedi has been starting at right guard all season and has done a fairly decent job. His performance at right guard clearly proves he should be a guard in the NFL and not a tackle as he was in Seattle. Luckily for the Bears, Ifedi was able to clear COVID testing and will be available to play this game.

Right Tackle: Rashaad Coward

Yuck. Remember how I spoke so “highly” of Coward playing left guard? Yeah, well now we get to see him play right tackle this week. He subbed in at right guard when Jason Spriggs went down with a bit of an injury last week and was “ok”. Maybe playing right tackle will do him well as he typically only needs to focus on one blocking assignment. This is one of Coward’s biggest flaws as an interior lineman — he often has no clue who to block and we see him blocking no one.

Reserves: Lachavious Simmons, Badara Traore and Dieter Eiselen

This will be a bloodbath on Sunday with this patchwork of an offensive line. Matt Nagy, Bill Lazor and Nick Foles will need to come up with a very specific game plan to try and help this very young, inexperienced offensive line.