Cody Whitehair and Lucas Patrick are emblematic of the Bears' issues on the offensive line
The Bears' offensive line is a work in progress, but there are some pieces of it that are better than others. Darnell Wright has had some growing pains, but he looks every bit the part of a franchise tackle. Teven Jenkins, when he hasn't been sidelined by injury, has been superb. The jury is still out on second-year tackle Braxton Jones and free agent signee Nate Davis, both of whom have struggled in the limited time they've been able to be on the field.
That brings us to Cody Whitehair and Lucas Patrick. The injuries on the Bears' O-line have thrust both players into more demanding roles than initially planned, with Patrick moving into the starting lineup as the team's center, and Whitehair sliding over from center to guard.
Both players have been liabilities in their new roles, a reality that was obvious against the Chargers. Los Angeles routinely bullied Whitehair and Patrick, exploiting them with Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa. Tyson Bagent was under constant pressure when he didn't get the ball out immediately, and the Bears' run game was bottled up for only 2.9 yards per carry.
Patrick had back-to-back penalties to short-circuit the Bears' second drive. The first, an illegal hands-to-the-face call, negated a 17-yard D'Onta Foreman run, and the second, a holding call, was declined by the Chargers to bring up 3rd and 16.
Whitehair gave up a sack on the first drive of the game to push the Bears out of field goal range. On the play, he was bull-rushed by Bosa, who pushed through the eighth-year pro like he wasn't even there before bringing down Tyson Bagent.