4. The Chicago Bears offensive line barely formed in training camp
The Chicago Bears offensive line has been a disaster through two weeks. It has fans wondering why the front office did not do nearly enough this offseason. The issue is that they did. They signed Coleman Shelton, and they added his backup in Ryan Bates. With Matt Pryor, they have more depth than before, and with Kiran Amegadjie, they have youth in the pipeline. Heck, even in the previous offseason they gave Nate Davis real money in free agency. The front office put in work, it is just that nothing has panned out yet.
To be fair, a little patience may help as well. Bates and Amegadjie were hurt this week and could not play, if they can get healthy, the depth looks a lot better.
Still, the injuries, shuffling, and new faces have been the issue here. Coleman Shelton was in-and-out at center competing with Ryan Bates for most of the summer. Bates was back and forth between center and guard, making life tougher for Nate Davis, who was also hardly practicing.
So, should it really be a big surprise that Davis and Shelton are the biggest issues on the line so far? They have practiced the least and shuffled in and out of the lineup the most. Shelton has held down the starting center job for around a month now, so he should start to pick it up.
Still, he is on a new team, and while he played with Shane Waldron before it was not last year, so this is fresh for him. When you add in a rookie quarterback, it makes sense that these three are not quite on the same page yet. Maybe give the play-caller, center, and quarterback four games to learn each other after they did not get enough time in training camp.
The biggest benefit to the offensive line is continuity. The Bears do not have it, but benching someone this week will not help improve continuity either. We just have to be patient.