Chicago Bears position battles to look for: Center

Lucas Patrick — The challenger who looks to have better luck

The Chicago Bears signed Lucas Patrick last offseason. He was supposed to replace Sam Mustipher at center. However, he ran into a lot of bad luck.

At the start of training camp, he broke a thumb. He missed the rest of camp and the preseason. He came back at the start of the season but the team felt he could play at guard while he completely healed.

When Patrick finally got a chance to start at center, he suffered another injury, this one to his foot. The injury knocked him out for the season. He only got to start five games (out of seven played) and was in on only 269 snaps after having more than 900 in each of the previous two seasons.

Like Whitehair, Patrick also has experience at guard. He was mainly a guard with the Green Bay Packers when injuries to two centers forced him to play there. He did a pretty good job there and the Bears felt he could help. Things then deteriorated for him.

Patrick never got an opportunity to show what he could do last season. Now healthy again, he gets his chance. He does not want to pass up this opportunity. He has the strength, footwork, and football IQ to be the signal caller of the offensive line.