Chicago Bears committing malpractice with Teven Jenkins situation

The Chicago Bears spent weeks downplaying Teven Jenkins’ injury. Now he needs surgery and could be out for the season. The team handled the situation horribly wrong from the beginning.

Right before the 2021 NFL Draft rolled around, many draft experts expected the Chicago Bears to select offensive lineman Teven Jenkins. He would add a mean and nasty player to a line that desperately needed that. The Bears didn’t select Jenkins, however. Instead, they went out and drafted Justin Fields. That move brought so much hope to Chicago Bears Nation.

Jenkins was available in the second round, though, and the Bears moved up and got him as well. That drove the fans into delirium. They got their franchise quarterback and the lineman they needed in the first two rounds.

While Fields has impressed coaches and critics with his practices and his preseason debut, Jenkins hasn’t been seen. He has yet to see any time in training camp due to a bad back. The Bears spent weeks downplaying Jenkins’ situation. Head coach Matt Nagy kept saying that it wasn’t serious. He even went so far as to say Jenkins was trending in the right direction.

That all changed with the reports of Jenkins needing back surgery. He’ll likely miss the entire season. However, the team hopes that he could return in November.

The Chicago Bears handled the situation horribly wrong

The Bears really handled this situation poorly from the beginning. Soon after drafting him, Chicago decided to make him a left tackle, a position he didn’t play much in college. He needed to learn the most important position after quarterback.

To make matters worse, the team took away Jenkins’ safety net. They cut Charles Leno Jr., who was the starter. Leno spent most of his Chicago Bears career taking the brunt of the fans’ ire over the struggling line play.

Yes, Leno wasn’t the best lineman. He was a serviceable lineman, however. While he struggled at times in pass protection, he was a pretty good run blocker. At the very least, he could’ve mentored the young Jenkins. He could be a good backup as well. Instead, Leno was shown the door and left Jenkins with no one else on the roster with left tackle experience.

Then came the injury and now the surgery.

What makes the Leno cut even more disastrous was what Nagy said recently about Jenkins. He said the team was aware of his back issues.

"We were well aware of everything, with some of the back issues that he had in college."

This is just very bad. If they knew about his issues, why cut Leno? That left no one else with experience to replace him. They could have left Leno on the team and if Jenkins did well, then cut him.

Instead, the Bears had to go out and sign Jason Peters. Yes, Peters is likely a Hall of Fame offensive lineman, but at age 39, he isn’t that guy anymore. He’s a shadow of his All-Pro days. What happens if Peters goes down?

The way general manager Ryan Pace and Nagy handled the Jenkins situation is a firable offense. They knew they drafted a player who had injury issues and could go down. They also cut not only his but also the offensive line’s safety net by not having anyone behind the rookie. It’s one thing to have so much confidence in a rookie to take over an important position. It’s another to have that same confidence in a player with back issues.

If Pace and Nagy thought their seats were hot after last season, those seats are scorching now. Just when they garnered some positive news they go ahead and turn things negative.