When the Chicago Bears take on the Green Bay Packers, one of the bigger matchups of the game will be Kenny Clark against the Bears interior. Clark is someone who is quite familiar with the Bears, and since Cody Whitehair and Sam Mustipher started the two games against Green Bay last year, there will be plenty of understanding from both sides.
That is why this is an issue for the Bears, though. If you know anything about the NFL the last few seasons, Kenny Clark has ascended into a star in the interior. On the flip side, most fans wanted to give Sam Mustipher the boot after he started at center last season, and mainstay Cody Whitehair appears to be losing his touch as a player in his prime.
The decline started for Whitehair last season, and it came against Kenny Clark, who dominated him in their week six matchup. Dean Lowry added to the pain, but Clark had two sacks and six pressures.
He did some work against Mustipher, and James Daniels, and repeated his performance in week 14 with another seven pressures. Between the two games, he posted 13 pressures and two sacks.
Of them, 10 are when he was lined up against Whitehair and Mustipher. It is hard to say that much will change. In the first game, Mustipher was actually the most competent lineman for the Chicago Bears. However, Cody Whitehair was beaten by both Arik Armstead, and Javon Kinlaw, showing that he may not have it anymore.
Then, on the flip side, we see Kenny Clark, who posted six pressures and a sack against the Vikings. He moved around from left guard to right guard and beat the center as well. While Mustipher held his own aginst San Fran, this will be the ultimate test to see if has shown any growth from last season. For Whitehair, the Chicago Bears have to hope he can bring something back from years past.
Then, there is the major question of how Teven Jenkins will fare the first time he sees Kenny Clark.