After Caleb Williams was sacked a league-high 68 times last season, and the ground game was horribly inefficient, the Chicago Bears wasted no time overhauling their interior offensive line. Guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson were acquired via trades, and center Drew Dalman was signed in free agency.
A new offensive line needs time to gel, and it showed in Week 1. Since then things have improved, with Williams taking fewer sacks and most recently the run game finding some serious traction.
The Bears only sent a sixth-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams for Jackson. But then they gave him a three-year, $54.5 million contract extension, knowing they'd be moving him to a position that fit their big picture more than it fit where he was most likely to succeed.
Entering the season, Jackson had played 211 snaps at right guard in his career, compared to over 3,600 at left guard (where he was a Pro Bowler for the Detroit Lions in 2021).
Jackson's history with Bears head coach Ben Johnson in Detroit only goes so far if he's not a fit in the bigger picture of the offensive line overhaul. Through one game, it looked bad.
It was only one game though, and since then Jackson has performed far better. Not that anyone would've necessarily noticed without doing some deeper analysis into those subsequent games.
Bears have a far more disappointing player than Jonah Jackson
Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report picked a most disappointing player for each NFL team heading into Week 8, and for the Bears he chose Jackson.
"A key free-agent addition as part of Chicago's 2025 offensive-line overhaul, Jackson has been penalized four times while posting a sub-60 PFF grade thus far."
Jackson's season-long overall PFF grade of 58.1 is dragged down by that awful Week 1, where he registered a 31.0 grade. Since then, he has posted an overall grade above 68.0 three times. In Week 7 against the New Orleans Saints, he posted a season-best 72.1 overall PFF grade along with his best run blocking mark of the season (69.8).
Jackson allowed five hurries, five quarterback pressures, and he was called for two penalties in the season opener. Over the five games since, he has been penalized twice while allowing five hurries and six pressures. He has not been flawless, but he has absolutely turned it around since the season opener.
Bears fans would certainly say rookie tight end Colston Loveland has been very disappointing so far, especially in light of what fellow rookie tight end Tyler Warren is doing. But with Cole Kmet set to miss Week 8 against the Baltimore Ravens, opportunity is now knocking loudly for him.
Eliminating Jackson and Loveland, the most disappointing player for the Bears so far this season becomes obvious.
Dayo Odeyingbo's track record said he probably wasn't deserving of a three-year, $48 million contract to hopefully be a pass-rushing force off the edge opposite Montez Sweat. So it's not too surprising he has delivered just one sack (which came in Week 1) and nine pressures (six since Week 1) through six games.
Read more: Caleb Williams' immediate fantasy outlook looks bright after low-point in Week 7
Looking at his PFF grade, Jackson is the low-hanging fruit as the most disappointing Bears player so far this season. But it's not like Odeyingbo has been any good by that measure either, with a 55.4 overall mark (No. 92 out of 114 qualified edge rushers). At least Jackson seems to be finding his footing, while Odeyingbo has shown no such signs.