CHICAGO (WGN) — When it comes to what’s wrong with the Chicago Bears, some argue it’s coaching. Others dare to say it’s Caleb Williams. Most toss it up to organizational dysfunction, or some supernatural hex inadvertently brought about by the McCaskeys being the McCaskeys.
It’s the offensive line folks. This team lacks an absolute dog blocking up front and has not a single lineman who can ignite the fire toward winning at the point of attack.
In the game of football, there is not one position group more important to a team’s success. Just ask Jim Harbaugh, former Bears quarterback and head coach of an NFL team that actually wins football games.
“The offensive line, to me, is important. If I asked you the question, what position group depends on no other position group to be good, but every other position group depends on them to be good — what position group is that?” Harbaugh quipped during the 2024 NFL Annual Meetings. “Offensive line. They’re not relying on any other position group to be good, but yet every other position group relies on the offensive line to be good.
“And then the D-line, they’ll be the ones that argue back, saying ‘We don’t need the offensive line to be good.’ Don’t you? Don’t you like [it] when the offense has a 12-play drive? And then they say, ‘Okay, you’re right.’ Building that kind of offensive line is exciting. That group is like a fist. There are five of them playing as one.”
Harbaugh carried that sentiment into his first season at the helm of the Los Angeles Chargers, where he spent his top draft pick on Notre Dame left tackle Joe Alt.
Thousands of miles away in the heart of the Midwest, Bears general manager Ryan Poles and then-head coach Matt Eberflus went a different direction.
After selecting Caleb Williams with the top pick in the 2024 draft, they used the ninth overall selection on wide receiver Rome Odunze and opted to plug replacement-level guards, centers and tackles into the offensive line, thinking it would be good enough of a solution to prop up the bevy of skill position players they had acquired last offseason.
The results should have been predictable.
Heading into Week 16, Chicago is tied with the Cleveland Browns for the most sacks allowed in the NFL (58) and has a mile-long list of examples from game tape that would befit a compilation of “what not to do as an offensive lineman in the NFL.”
Meanwhile, Los Angeles checks in at tenth in football with 41 sacks allowed and has two young pillars to build around on an offensive line that will only continue to trend upward under Harbaugh.
Alt ranks top three in offensive (2nd), run blocking (3rd) and pass blocking grade (1st) among the 2024 crop of rookie O-linemen, according to Pro Football Focus, and is also the 14th-ranked offensive tackle in football when it comes to PFF’s offensive grade.
2021 13th overall pick, right tackle Rashawn Slater, is tied for PFF’s second-best offensive grade, giving the Chargers two of their top 15 offensive tackles in all of football.
“Offensive linemen we look at as weapons. When we talk about attacking on offense … Offensive line is the tip of the spear,” Harbaugh said at those same annual meetings.
While Odunze bears no responsibility for the Bears’ blocking woes, insult is added to injury when one considers Poles is a former offensive lineman who has yet to put together a functional group to protect the most prized quarterback in franchise history.
According to PFF, three Chicago offensive linemen — right tackle Darnell Wright (29th), left guard Teven Jenkins (33rd) and left tackle Braxton Jones (35th) — have climbed into their top 35 O-linemen, based on offensive grade. But those three have missed a combined five games and 593 total snaps on offense, leading to a hodgepodge of starting lines that have killed momentum, stunted offensive drives and left Williams battered and bruised.
The Bears’ loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football was just the latest example of the offensive line’s futility.
Williams was pressured 14 times (40% of his dropbacks) and sacked twice, the running game averaged 3.9 yards per carry and offensive linemen committed five penalties, two of which cost Chicago a touchdown.
Midway through the third quarter, D’Andre Swift appeared to punch in a 1-yard TD run, but Doug Kramer was flagged for failing to report as eligible, nullifying the touchdown and knocking the Bears back an extra five yards.
“100% on me. Forgot to report,” Kramer told The Athletic’s Kevin Fishbain after the game. “[I] Ran on the field, clock was running down, got in the huddle and ran the play. It’s an unacceptable mistake. Obviously, I apologized to all my teammates, everyone on the offense. Things like that can’t happen.”
Two plays later, Kiran Amegadjie was called for offensive holding on a play Swift was stopped two yards behind the line of scrimmage. After back-to-back Williams incomplete passes meant for Odunze, the Bears settled for a 29-yard field goal from Cairo Santos.
A similar situation unfolded shortly after the fourth quarter began.
Williams scrambled and hit Keenan Allen for a miraculous toe-tap catch for 20 yards along the right sideline on third down, moving Chicago into Minnesota’s red zone at the 16-yard line.
Swift was stuffed for no gain trying to run behind right guard Matt Pryor before a Williams pass sailed over the head of Odunze through the back of the end zone. Next, Amegadjie was called for his third penalty of the night —a false start that moved the Bears offense back from third-and-10, to third-and-15.
Seconds later, Williams tried to dip, duck, dodge and dive around the Vikings’ pass rush before a cross-body heave to Allen fell incomplete.
Amegadjie was called for ineligible man downfield at play’s end so, even if Williams completed the pass, it would have all been for naught. Minnesota declined the penalty to force Chicago into another short-range Santos field goal.
In his postgame press conference, interim head coach Thomas Brown still vouched for his rookie left tackle out of Yale, saying Amegadjie’s skillset offered enough belief for him to start Monday night in place of the injured Braxton Jones.
“[We have] confidence in his ability,” Brown said. “I think being able to have an opportunity to work him into that spot, we’ve kind of been rotating him the last few days and weeks behind Braxton so, it’s more about just [Amegadjie being in] the spot on the left side.”
Regardless of Amegadjie’s performance or how much confidence Brown has in him going forward, it doesn’t make up for the fact the Bears still need to find their go-to guy — a road-grating Batman — along the offensive line who can lead with a mean streak and be the “tip of the spear” in those “got to have it” moments.
The Detroit Lions have Penei Sewell. The Green Bay Packers have Zach Tom. When healthy, Minnesota has Christian Darrisaw.
Who will that guy be for Chicago?
According to SB Nation football writer J.P. Acosta, Texas tackle Kelvin Banks and Alabama guard Tyler Booker could each be that future enforcer type for the Bears. They have seven draft picks in the 2025 NFL draft, including their own first-round pick and two in the second, one of which is thanks to the ever-popular trade with the Carolina Panthers that landed Chicago DJ Moore and Caleb Williams.
In free agency this offseason, a high-powered addition could be Lions guard Kevin Zeitler, who is PFF’s seventh-rated offensive lineman and second-best guard so far this season.
Regardless of whether it’s in the draft or through free agency, the Bears need to make sure they bring in a lineman who’s an absolute dog.
Their offensive line has played too poorly to ignore and if it’s not priority No. 1 this offseason, they may as well tell Caleb Williams they don’t care about his development and kickstart the next disaster class in the long history of Chicago quarterback mismanagement.