Chicago Bears: New-look offensive line should be even better in 2019

The Chicago Bears’ offensive line did a pretty good job last season. This offseason, they played musical chairs with the unit and now it should be even better.

For the Chicago Bears, one of the bright spots in a season full of them in 2018 was the offensive line. This was a pretty strong unit that sent two players to the Pro Bowl. This may be controversial, however, because there is still a perception that the unit is a weak point in the offense.

That perception comes from the many years the line struggled. They gave up way too many sacks and couldn’t open holes for the running backs. That isn’t the case now, however, no matter what some fans think.

In 2018, the Bears rushing attack ranked seventh in touchdowns scored. A lot of that is due to the line opening holes for the running backs. Also, the offensive line ranked eighth in sacks allowed and second in quarterback hits allowed. These all point to a very good offensive line.

This offseason, the Bears made some risky moves according to NFL experts. They traded away the popular Jordan Howard to the Philadelphia Eagles. While many consider that risky, the Bears don’t agree because they felt from the start that he didn’t fit in head coach Matt Nagy’s offensive system.

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The other risky move the made was on the offensive line. They decided to play musical chairs by moving Pro Bowl center Cody Whitehair over to left guard and moving the left guard, second-year man James Daniels, over to center.

It’s a bold move having a player go to another position the season after making the Pro Bowl. Again, while some consider this a risk, the Bears don’t feel that way. This move actually has both players move to their natural positions. As hard as it is to believe, the Bears drafted Whitehair as a guard. James Daniels was a center for his last two seasons at the University of Iowa.

The Bears were high on Daniels when they drafted him in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. The Bears felt he was too young to take over the signal calling on the line, so they kept Whitehair at center and kicked Daniels over to guard. Daniels took over as the starting left guard after six games and started the final 10 games.

Now the Bears hope Daniels learned enough after a season to be able to take over at center. Pro Football Weekly’s Hub Arkush wrote about how good this move is:

"[C]enter is clearly Daniels’ natural position, and after playing it his last two seasons in Iowa it’s not really even a transition for him. The whole offensive line looks better with him at center and Whitehair at guard…It is absolutely the right move, I know Harry Hiestand supports it, and he really is one of the best O-line coaches in football at any level."

The Chicago Bears also signed veterans Ted Larsen and T.J. Clemmings as backups. They should provide quality snaps in limited roles, allowing the starters to stay fresh during the season.

Additionally, they have high hopes for undrafted rookie Alex Bars. Bars had the ability and tools to be a mid-round pick, but a knee injury kept teams away from him. He reunited with Harry Hiestand, who was Notre Dame’s offensive line coach before returning for a second stint with the Bears. The players love having him and he did a great job in his first season back in Chicago.

Should Bars show he is over his injury and the veteran backups do well enough to give the starters proper rest (the starters last season played about 90 percent of the snaps in 2018), the offensive line should be even better than they were in 2018. That bodes well for the offense in general. There should be many big plays which could bring many victories in a super season.