One of the high notes from the Chicago Bears week one win over the San Francisco 49ers was the play of Larry Borom. The 49ers moved Nick Bosa around, but when he was matched up with Borom, he was not winning. However, there was a question of how much the sloppy conditions made it hard to rush, and with Preston Smith and Rashan Gary next up, we knew this was a huge test for Borom.
Larry Borom had his moments but overall did not have a good game. Take a look at the pass rush attempt by Rashan Gary below. From the start, you can see Borom get his feet crossed, which is never a good sign.
When Gary makes contact, Borom is already falling back, and Gary is in a perfect position. He drives the right tackle into Justin Fields.
To be fair to Borom, we wrote that Justin Fields could have still made a play here, had he shown a bit more pocket awareness, but overall his decision making had to be rushed because of the pass rush coming in against Borom.
In the play below, Luke Getsy gives him a little help with Cole Kmet. Gary has to loop around Kmet, but Kmet does not chip him, so essentially Gary just got a strong head of steam.
Borom has a better stance as he takes on the pressure, but it is obvious who is more powerful of the two. Gary drives Borom backward, and he starts to pedal into the quarterback. There is not much that Justin Fields can do on this one.
The play below is a run-blocking repetition. This one may be another play where you just have to admit that Rashan Gary is in a different class. Gary is rushing from the outside but makes a quick dip to the inside before blowing the play-up in the backfield.
This play is risky for Gary because if he misses, he lost his position to set the edge. It is a bit unprecedented and only the top-tier athletes have the capability and coach respect to pull these plays off.
With that in mind, the young and inexperienced Borom was caught off guard, and beyond that is not in the same tier of an athlete compared to Rashan Gary.
Borom has been serviceable, but not much beyond that. We will continue to see he performs, and if he can shake off a tough matchup against Gary, and possibly see a better day against the Texans.