Chicago Bears: How to improve the offensive line during the bye week

The Chicago Bears should flip James Daniels to LG and promote Alex Bars to RG

Now that Sam Mustipher is on the bench and Cody Whitehair is moving from left guard back to center, the team will need to fill in Cody Whitehair’s spot. The Bears could promote Alex Bars to left guard, but the better move here is sliding James Daniels back to left guard as he played in 2020. In fact, Daniels was playing at a Pro Bowl level last season prior to his injury.

With James Daniels slotted at left guard, this means the Chicago Bears will now fill in the right guard position by promoting Alex Bars. Bars stepped in for Lachavious Simmons and played admirably, but not great at right tackle in Week 7 versus the Bucs.

Simmons was struggling horribly and the Bears shockingly made an in-game switch to Bars at right tackle instead. The move definitely helped the offensive line play better, but it wasn’t enough as they were dominated 38-3.

Last year, Alex Bars saw plenty of action last year. He started at center in Week 9 and started at left guard in Week 10. He then started at right guard in Week 12 and finished out the season at that position. If you recall, this is when David Montgomery really turned it on and dominated on the ground. This is also when the Bears started winning again.

To recap, the Bears should now have a starting offensive line of:

• Jason Peters, LT
• James Daniels, LG
• Cody Whitehair, C
• Alex Bars, RG
• Larry Borom, RT