Chicago Bears: It seems the battle for center is over before it even begins

There was supposed to be a battle for the Chicago Bears’ starting center. It seems, however, that the battle was over before it even began.

After a 3-14 season, Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles set out to overhaul the roster. Armed with almost $100 million in salary cap space and 10 draft picks, including the top overall pick. He did just that.

Poles added a lot of talent to the roster. He also set up a situation in which depth is much better. The team can better handle injuries in 2023 than it could in 2022.

With the influx of new players, competition arises. Throughout the rest of the offseason and during preseason games, there will be many battles for starting spots.

One of the key battles this offseason was supposed to be at center. Cody Whitehair and Lucas Patrick were supposed to battle to be the main guy to snap the football to quarterback Justin Fields. We even had an article about it.

It seems, however, that the battle is not going to happen. With the signing of guard Nate Davis, right guard Teven Jenkins moves over to the left side. Whitehair, who was the right guard last season, moved over to center.

Patrick was signed to be the starting center last season. He suffered a broken thumb on his snapping hand, though. It kept him out of training camp and he missed all the preseason games.

Patrick played at right guard until his thumb was healthy enough to snap. When it finally was, he suffered an injury to his toe that shut him down for the season.

Now Patrick is healthy again, but it seems he won’t get the opportunity to start at center. At least that’s the idea we get from head coach Matt Eberflus.

Eberflus recently spoke on the battle and he had some clarifications.

"Cody’s there as the starter right now, and then Lucas is working in there because of experience. Really, the big thing with those guys is the accuracy of the snaps, and they’ve done a great job with that."

It does not appear that there is much of a battle, right?

The Chicago Bears will be better at center. Sam Mustipher was the starter the last few seasons but he was not good enough. Now that he is gone, Whitehair becomes the replacement. He already has experience there. He spent his first two seasons there then alternated between guard and center. He will shift again.

It looks like Patrick will be the backup center. Having Whitehair and Patrick gives the Bears a strong duo at the position. In addition to being the backup center, Patrick will also spend time along all three interior line positions.

Eberflus stated that he expects Patrick to battle for all three starting jobs. However, we need to take that with a grain of salt. Teven Jenkins had a good season last year starting at guar. He seems better suited to stay as a guard. Davis is the free agent signee so unless he completely collapses he will start.

While that leaves the center spot we all thought he’d battle for, it seems that Eberflus and the coaching staff are happy with having Whitehair starting there.

It isn’t as if the Chicago Bears are in a bad position. Patrick was a guard who ended up becoming a center with the Green Bay Packers when the starter and backup went down with injuries.

Patrick did spend the offseason building up his body so he doesn’t suffer injuries again. He would be a terrific backup interior lineman. He has starting experience and could step up in the case of an injury.

The Chicago Bears’ offensive line situation is in a better situation than they’ve had for years. While they have Patrick under contract, they have a very good backup situation. He has the ability to start so if he can do well in Chicago he could earn himself a starting job, even if it isn’t with the Bears.