Chicago Bears: 3 Big takeaways from loss vs. Packers in Week 1

Cody Whitehair still struggles with snaps

The guys in the booth calling the game mentioned that Cody Whitehair and Trubisky are close. They talked about how they are roommates and they do all this stuff together. Well, usually that’s great to foment a quarterback/center camaraderie, but that can only do so much good.

Whitehair did an exemplary job as a rookie at center filling in for Hroniss Grasu two seasons ago. Last season he had some trouble. This preseason, his troubles with snapping continued. He had snaps that were too high or too far to the left or right.

Nagy’s offense is predicated on good timing. When the snap is off, it messes up the timing. When that happens, a throw may be off or a hole closes up before the running back gets to it. Also, a bad snap causes the quarterback to have trouble and just fall on the ground to secure the ball. That is exactly what happened late in the game.

To begin with, Whitehair had a number of snaps that were high. Trubisky handled those snaps for the most part, but the last one really cost the team. Whitehair snapped the ball too high and to the right. Trubisky couldn’t handle it and ended up falling down, losing three yards on the play.

On the next play, Howard ran for 12 yards. The Bears decided to pass on third down but it was incomplete. If not for the bad snap that lost yards, Howard gets a first down and the Bears secure the victory. Instead, the Bears settled for a field goal and they lost by a point.

Yes, I know the defense had their troubles, but a lot of that had to do with the defensive line wearing down late. Without the pressure, the secondary got beat. That can be improved quickly.

Normally, I’d write the bad snaps off as just an opening game mistake. The problem is Whitehair had the same problems last season and it continued throughout the preseason. At this point, it’s not a matter of a hiccup, but a pattern. The Bears have a guy on the bench who is a natural center — rookie James Daniels. They need to put him in there and move Whitehair to left guard.

There were other times when the interior of the offensive line had trouble. Kyle Long a holding penalty and Eric Kush got beat, flushing Trubisky out of the pocket. Inserting Daniels at center and moving Whitehair out to guard solidifies both positions. It’s time to stop messing with Whitehair’s mental aspect to the game and get him in his natural position and playing to his best ability.