Chicago Bears: 5 Biggest questions for the 2020 season
2. Does the offensive line improve?
The biggest complaint about the Chicago Bears offense in 2019 was the play of the offensive line. It struggled mightily because of injuries, bad depth, and too many penalties.
The right side of the offensive line was decimated because of injuries. Kyle Long and Bobby Massie, the right guard and right tackle, respectively, missed 18 games combined. The Bears did not have proper replacements for them. The running backs could not find very many holes on the right side, and near the end of the season, the offense practically abandoned the plan to run on the right side.
Long retired because of his injuries. There is now a battle for the starting right guard spot. The Bears signed Germain Ifedi to compete for that position and he seems to have the inside track on coming out on top. He struggled over his career as a tackle but he was a guard in his rookie season and did a pretty good job there.
Rashaad Coward and Alex Bars will compete with Ifedi for the starting job. Coward was the starter there in place of Long. He wasn’t expected to be a starter and it took him a while to get adjusted. He has that experience under his belt so he has a better feel for the position.
Bars was a rookie last season recovering from a serious injury. He was a second or third round prospect before the injury had him go undrafted. He is completely healthy now so that could be an advantage for the Bears.
Massie is healthy again so let’s hope he returns to his 2018 form where he gave up just one sack. On the other side, however, we have Charles Leno. He just couldn’t stop committing penalties. He committed 12 penalties, ranking him fifth in the league. The next offensive lineman on the list is Cody Whitehair with just three. He was a Pro Bowl player in 2018 so he can play better. Hopefully, he does.
James Daniels and Whitehair switched positions before the start of the 2019 season. Daniels’ inexperience, along with Mitchell Trubisky‘s inability to read defenses really hurt the offensive line. After they switched back, the line performed better. In 2020, they’ll stay still at their positions so that should help keep stability along the line.
In case Massie and Leno struggle, the Bears signed Jason Spriggs. He missed the 2019 season due to injury but he is still young at 26 and if healthy he could step in if the tackles can’t get the job done.
The offensive line definitely needs to play better in 2020. The entire offense needs it to play well so it could succeed. The line ranked 29th in run blocking and 21st in pass blocking. If the running backs cannot have adequate holes to run through or the quarterback cannot get enough protection then no matter how good the defense is, the team will still struggle.
Speaking of the quarterback…