The Chicago Bears lost their starting left tackle, Braxton Jones, for the final two games of the 2025 season.
The Bears have lost Jones a couple of times already this season and they have played both Larry Borom and Kiran Amegadjie in his place. While Borom was active over Amegadjie and got the backup snaps against the Detroit Lions this past Sunday, the Bears would be smart to go back to Amegadjie for the final two games.
The Chicago Bears should start Kiran Amegadjie with Braxton Jones injured
After Amegadjie made his starting debut in Week 15, the team decided to make him a healthy scratch in Week 16. However, Borom was not good in his limited time replacing Jones, allowing two pressures on the day. Borom not being good has been a constant around the Bears for the past four years.
This year, Borom's struggles have continued, allowing 16 pressures on 157 pass protection snaps. The issue is that Amegadjie only played 67 pass protection snaps and has already allowed 8 pressures. Still, four of those came during a game when he was asked to jump in halfway through due to an injury. The other four came during his start against the Vikings in Week 15.
If Amegadjie can find something that sparks in the next two weeks, there is still a chance he becomes the longterm starter here, if not in 2025, then possibly in 2026.
On the other hand, Borom will be a free agent after the year. He has two more games left until he is on a new team. With him starting, there is no future to build towards.
Yes, the downside of Amegadjie is slightly greater because he is still so raw and inexperienced. Still, the downside of Borom is rather low as well, and that is much more of a likely outcome, because we have seen how limited the upside is.
We are choosing between two poor options and if that is the case, at least Amegadjie has the room to grow. The Bears need to ride with the rookie for the final two games.