Chicago Bears: 3 ways to replace Bobby Massie following his release
By Joseph Herff
Alex Bars could be the placeholder at right tackle
If anybody on the Bears’ roster deserves a chance to start next season, it is Alex Bars. Bars played offensive guard at Notre Dame before signing as an undrafted free agent with the Chicago Bears in 2019 with former college teammate Sam Mustipher.
In a nutshell, Bars got screwed over a lot of playing time both last season and this season. Matt Nagy stupidly chose to continuously play Rashaad Coward over the technically sound and experienced guard in Bars. In 2019, Coward replaced an injured Kyle Long earning 10 starts. Bars was quite obviously much better.
Even to start 2020, once James Daniels got hurt, Coward got the nod. Finally, after a few weeks into the Bears’ major losing streak, Nagy decided something should change. He then flipped the offensive line completely finally letting Bars start regularly to end the season. Bars wasn’t amazing, but he was light years better than Coward.
In addition to that, Bars does a lot for the Bears. When all three of the potential Bears’ centers got hurt (Cody Whitehair, Daniels, Mustipher), Bars stepped up and learned how to play center. He played games at both guard positions and center in 2020. He additionally has experience playing tackle as well.
Next. Matter of time before Ryan Pace makes a splash. dark
Bars could get his shot to start next season and compete with a late-round rookie like a free agent would as discussed above in the second slide. They could give Bars a chance to show what he can really do starting at right tackle making it his job to lose.