Chicago Bears: 6 Observations heading into Week 13 vs the Lions

After 12 weeks, the offensive line may finally be at its best

The removal of Rashaad Coward, the addition of Sam Mustipher at center, the shifting of Cody Whitehair to left guard along with Bill Lazor as their play-caller were the keys that led to the best game the Bears offensive line has had this season. Sam Mustipher is reminding us how intangibles in the center position just like at quarterback are more important than physical traits.

The Chicago Bears offensive line this season has often lacked toughness and smarts. Alex Bars and Sam Mustipher showed these two traits and more against the Packers. According to Pro Football Focus (PFF), neither Alex Bars nor Sam Mustipher allowed a single pressure against Green Bay. There were recent rumors floating around about how other teams saw the Bears’ offense as soft. These recent changes would appear to put the Bears on track to possibly lose this reputation.

For many weeks the Bears run game has been sabotaged by either single or multiple missed blocks during each running play. Rashaad Coward was a big contributor to this sabotage, Charles Leno made enormous contributions to this sabotage. Cody Whitehair and Germain Ifedi would flash bad blocks throughout games. Jason Spriggs and Ifedi were also, often, confused by stunts.

Outside of Charles Leno still getting pushed around, for the most part, a lot of these issues were minor or not present at all against the Packers. This all showed that the interior of their Bears offensive line is a solid building block to eventually get the entire line to be, consistently, good by next season.

An additional fix for the Bears offensive line could be an old friend. Kyle Long has dropped some big-time hints if Nagy is gone he wants to come back to the Bears. If they fire Nagy as they should, maybe the Bears can convince Kyle Long to come back to play right tackle.

A healthy Kyle Long with his strength and athleticism could still make a great right tackle. These same traits could also make him a very good left tackle. However, I suspect the coaches will probably have a harder sell to him as a left tackle than a right tackle.