Grading Chicago Bears offensive line through one-third point of 2023 season
Chicago Bears center
Lucas Patrick: 290 snaps
Primary matchups: TJ Slaton, Kenny Clark, Greg Gaines, Vita Vea, Derrick Nnadi, DJ Jones, Khyiris Tonga
It has been a long road for Lucas Patrick, and not much of it has been successful. He spent a lot of the summer injured and was thrust into the lineup because Teven Jenkins was placed on the IR. Early into the season, he looked lost.
Patrick suffered an injury in week five and left the game. It happened to be right when the team activated Jenkins from the IR, so the Chicago Bears moved Cody Whitehair to center and started Jenkins. This worked in the week five win, and the Bears were supposed to use this lineup when the season started, so they kept it in week six. However, Cody Whitehair had a bad snapping issue and he was benched, so Patrick came back in. You can say Patrick was better than Whitehair in that run, but he was not good, either.
Lucas Patrick Grade: D-
Cody Whitehair: 87 snaps
Primary matchup: John Ridgeway, Khyiris Tonga
As we noted, nothing Cody Whitehair has done in any position warrants a high grade. He has been asked to move around a lot, and that is not fair to him. Snapping issues have been a thing with him since Mitch Trubisky and the Bears coaching staff keeps letting him get starts at center. We wrote that the Bears should have cut him this offseason. Still, he has been starting, and he has been an issue with multiple bad snaps and a couple of blown blocks in this game. With Nate Davis out, we may not have seen the last of Whitehair, either.
Cody Whitehair Grade: F