Chicago Bears: Offensive line must improve but not as bad as it seems

The Chicago Bears saw the Tennessee Titans win with a good running game. Many feel Chicago’s offensive line is too bad to copy that but that isn’t the case.

I hope the Chicago Bears‘ coaches and front office took a look at the Tennessee Titans’ run to the Super Bowl. Mike Vrabel took a big chance and benched the team’s second overall pick quarterback, Marcus Mariota, for someone who was cast off by another team, Ryan Tannehill. That move, along with some other smaller moves, resulted in an appearance in the AFC Championship Game.

Despite not making it to the Super Bowl, the Titans had an incredibly successful season, especially after a 2-4 start. They made a run to make it to the playoffs. Once there, they discarded Tom Brady and the New England Patriots and MVP candidate Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. They were looking to knock down another giant in Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs but their magic ended there.

The Bears are in a similar position as the Titans were. There are some good options on offense and they have a strong defense. In fact, the Bears are ahead of the Titans in terms of defense. Chicago had multiple injuries that affected their best defenders in 2019 yet finished fourth in scoring defense and helped this hapless offense to make it to a record of 8-8.

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The Chicago Bears have some of the pieces to make a similar run. They have a good running back who can break out and have a big season. David Montgomery had his ups and downs in 2019 but he fought hard for all of his 889 yards. He was among the league leaders in broken tackles with 28. Derrick Henry, the NFL’s leading rusher in 2019, had 29 broken tackles.

If Montgomery can break out, he gives the Bears offense a shot in the arm it needs. It helps clear some space for the wide receivers since opposing defenses will try to stack the box. That helps quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, and he needs all the help he can get. Here is how the Bears can follow the Titan’s blueprint for success:

Offensive line situation isn’t dire

For Montgomery to have a breakout season, he needs help from his offensive line. Okay, cue in the people who want to trash the line and call for getting rid of everyone. I am not among those who feel the line is trash. Yes, it does need improvement but the situation isn’t as bad as some feel.

I broke down the rushing totals and broke them down between left, middle and right. I took away fumbles and kneel-downs.

The Bears ran the ball to the right 78 times for 226 yards for a 2.90 yards per rush average. They ran up the middle 184 times for 674 yards for a 3.66 yards per rush average. On the left side, the Bears ran it 117 times for 569 yards for an average of 4.86 yards per rush.

The rushing attack to the right was horrible, but don’t forget that Bobby Massie missed six games, so Cornelius Lucas, a career backup, was thrust into the starting spot, which explains the low numbers.

The numbers up the middle also suffered because of injury. Kyle Long‘s body was broken because of all the injuries he went through the past few seasons. It finally got to the point where he just couldn’t continue and the Bears placed him on injured reserve. He recently announced his retirement so the Bears need a replacement there.

Also, with Cody Whitehair and James Daniels back to their spots (the line’s performance improved when the Bears undid the doomed switch in training camp) for a full season, the interior should be better in 2020. Daniels finished fifth in pass blocking win rate in 2019.

The surprising thing for most people I’m sure was Charles Leno Jr.’s performance. The Bears had their most success running the ball on his side. He’s been many people’s whipping boy for the Bears’ line failures. They point out all his deficiencies when he gets beat.

The fact of the matter is that Leno isn’t as bad as some think. He finished 12th in pass blocking win rate. What he needs to improve, however, is his penchant for committing penalties. He committed 12 penalties in 2019 which was the third-most by any tackle. If he cleans that up, he’ll return to the player he was when he made the Pro Bowl after the 2018 season.

While some say the offensive line didn’t protect Trubisky well enough, first I’d say that Trubisky was responsible for some of those sacks. He takes too long to analyze a defense. As a result, his time runs out and he gets sacked. He needs to improve how he reads defenses and get the ball out of his hands.

Secondly, the Bears gave up 45 sacks. That ranked them 21st. With an improved line and Trubisky improving his reads, that number could drop considerably. Also, the Titans gave up 56 sacks yet Ryan Tannehill found a way to lead the league in passer rating (117.5) and yards per completion (13.6).

If the Bears get a good offensive lineman through free agency and pick up another one in the draft that will help the offense. Montgomery might not be another Henry but if he gets over 1,000 yards next season the offense will score plenty of points to win more games in 2020.