Bears Close in on Naming Offensive Line
For a team reported to be engaging in trade talks for Teven Jenkins, the Bears sure sound positive about his production at right guard.
Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy wasn't about to reveal a starting offensive line for opening day on Monday, but if the starting line from the last two preseason games isn't intact except for Lucas Patrick coming in at center then it will indeed be a surprise.
It would be difficult for Getsy to be happier about the play of the line they started, especially Jenkins.
"I thought Teven's done a great job of accepting that challenge of right guard," Getsy said. "We threw him in there and a few days later he's playing in a game in Seattle.
"I thought that showed, one, his athleticism, and two, his mental capacity. I think I've told you guys in here before that the guard position has more on his plate than the tackle position. For him to be able to go in and execute at a high level was really good."
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network had reported early Monday that the Bears were getting calls about Jenkins and engaging in discussion. That's quite a bit different than the Bears were shopping Jenkins around, which is how it turned out on social media. It's a free country.
What Rapoport didn't say was the Bears were calling others and shopping around Jenkins. Any player except Justin Fields and one or two others are untouchables. Of course they'd listen to callers. Who knows what some desperate team offers.
The other spot in question on the line remains left tackle. Braxton Jones started every preseason game there, but Getsy found some flaws to how he played early.
"I thought Braxton's done a nice job," Getsy said. "I thought for a young guy, he came in kinda hot, we were really excited about what he was showing.
Then we put pads on and I thought heーit shocked him a little bit, in the sense that, you knowー obviously having Robert (Quinn) to go against every day doesn't help, but then I thought he really did a great job of kinda digging his feet in the ground and getting right back at it."
So going back to Riley Reiff now at left tackle remains possible but it could be Jones has shown enough to stay.
"I sawーat least these last two or three weeksーI thought he's done a really nice job of getting better every day," Getsy said. "Yeah, I'm excited to see what he can do, and I think he's got a bunch of confidence in himself too, and I think he's got an opportunity to show what he's got."
So it sounds like Braxton Jones at left tackle, Cody Whitehair at left guard, Lucas Patrick at center, Teven Jenkins at right guard and Larry Borom at right tackle?
"I don't want to go there yet, but I thought all those guys have done a nice job of getting better each day," Getsy said. "I think you guys have naturally seen guys fall into certain positions and stuff, where they maybe feel a little bit more comfortable, so I think there's been growth."
It goes beyond their blocking techniques, and the way they all rushed to help Justin Fields when he took a cheap shot against Cleveland showed this.
"I love their play style," Getsy said. "I think as much as anything, they've bought in and you guys have seen, when our guys are getting tackled, they're being picked up by those five guys, every single time.
"They're running to the ball, they're finishing, and we want to play that kind of ball. We want to play nasty. We want to be more physical than everybody else. Those guys have bought into that."
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
