Bear Digest

Little clarity seems possible yet on jumbled Bears tackle situation

Theo Benedet held his own at left tackle against Buffalo according to Pro Football Focus, but the situation hardly appears settled at a time when it needs to be.
Gene Chamberlain|
Brittain Brown breaks to a hole created by Bears lineman Kiran Amegadjie (right) during a second half play Sunday.
Brittain Brown breaks to a hole created by Bears lineman Kiran Amegadjie (right) during a second half play Sunday. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Facing Buffalo Bills subs failed to ground the Canadian Eagle, Theo Benedet.

Benedet's momentum in a bid for starting left tackle continued right through the 38-0 win over Buffalo, even while Braxton Jones handled reps with Bears starters early in the game.

From Pro Football Focus blocking grades, Benedet came out down a bit in his own pass blocking grade but still higher than Jones, who faced Buffalo backups just like Benedet did.. PFF had Jones at a 60.5 overall grade to Benedet's 80.3, and Jones at 63.2 as a pass blocker to Benedet's 69.7.

Whether this is enough for Ben Johnson to make the starter into the backup remains to be seen. There's no guarantee Bears coaches look at the game film and see the blocking the same way PFF did, either. And there's no guarantee that if Benedet did have an edge, it was enough to oust Jones.

After all, the old saying is you need to convincingly beat the champion to take the title because he'll get the benefit of the doubt.

“We're going to have to look at that tape to know for sure, but we kind of came into this game saying that this was going to be a big one for that (left tackle),” Johnson said.

He said he only needs to see consistency from Jones coming back from his ankle surgery.

"He's shown flashes of his old self, and yet there's been some moments where I know we're going to get beat in this league," Jones said. "When you're playing tackle against some of these pass rushers in this league, you're going to lose a rep or two.

"There's two things. One is how do you bounce back when that happens? The other one, how do we slowdown from losing too fast? If we're going to lose, we want to lose slow."

Jones did have at least one of his 14 reps when he lost fast, but the tough part is comparing the few reps by Jones to the 39 reps by Benedet, 20 pass blocking and 19 run blocking.

Considering he had to stay on the field longer, the chances for Benedet to come back to the mean was far greater. Still, his PFF grades were better.

One other thing to watch for during the Chiefs game might be switching Benedet to guard for some plays. During a WSCR interview on Mully & Haugh last week, GM Ryan Poles even mentioned Benedet at guard.

"We're excited to see him get more and more reps at the left spot," Poles said. "And he's shown he can play a little bit of right (tackle) and he's shown that he can play a little bit of guard."

The more Benedet can do, the better off the line is if he doesn't become the left tackle starter because he'd provide depth both inside and outside.

Perhaps the only certainty now is Ozzy Trapilo is not in the mix to start at left tackle. He's working at the right side now as Darnell Wright's backup.

Another thing to watch at that tackle spot is whether Kiran Amegadjie might have played himself into roster trouble. His PFF grades would suggest that. He had an abysmal 27.3 pass blocking grade from PFF a week after he couldn't play due to injury. However, he did throw some powerful run blocks.

It's possible the final preseason game could be big for Amegadjie to assert himself simply for roster survival after they were looking at him as a potentil starter a few weeks ago. 

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.