Unstable Situation Remains Up Front

At least on one grading system, the Bears offensive line has plenty of issues and it's hard to argue based on some key numbers as they move into the offseason.

The Bears drafted two tackles, will plug them next year in and voila': They have an offensive line.

It's not going to be so simple whoever they have as head coach and offensive line coach. The analytics website Pro Football Focus concurs with this thought.

The grading of PFF often draws scrutiny, and it's deserved in many cases. For instance, how do they justify ranking Roquan Smith 62nd for all NFL linebackers in 2022? The grading of inside linebackers, in general, tends to be low while the grading for offensive tackles is always inflated.

Regardless, their overall offensive line grading is a valuable tool because there is no one going as in depth with game film-generated grading at positions where traditional statistics fail.  The predominant use of zone blocking schemes makes grading blockers much easier than when teams used man-to-man blocking and their assignments could vary by play, formation and the opposing defense deployed.

According to the site, the Bears need to do something about the center position before they can go forward with 2022. Or else Sam Mustipher needs to improve greatly.

The line, in general, gets graded 22nd for the year by PFF. It seems a position or two too high considering the fact Minnesota is graded one spot worse than the Bears and they just pushed around the Bears twice. Add in how the Bears gave up more sacks than any team (58) and finished 21st in yards gained per rush.

Mustipher has been graded low all year by PFF and this was the case last year, as well. They gave him a mark of 51.8, better only than four of the 38 centers they graded. Mustipher's pass blocking wasn't the problem as he had only a 47.5 run-blocking grade. This was worse than every center except Miami's Austin Reiter, who played only part of the season.

One real problem for the Bears line going forward is the player who finished the season with their best PFF grade is going to be 40 years old in a week and is an unrestricted free agent. That's left tackle Jason Peters.

After drafting Teven Jenkins and seeing his back issues, they'll go into the offseason unsettled at the position. It would seem likely they'll move to Jenkins since he was their second-round draft pick, unless they think they can squeeze another year out of Peters and want to use Jenkins on the right side or at guard. PFF's Sam Monson took it upon himself to criticize Jenkins' start, since numbers for reserves weren't part of the five-man grade list. They gave him 11 pressures allowed and pointed out the seven penalties he had for only 160 snaps.

For a rookie, right guard Larry Borom did not have a bad year. The 61.4 grade is not poor for first-year tackles and he was almost at the level of starter Germain Ifedi (61.8). However, Ifedi was only only 67th out of 85 in run blocking and has much to improve. He was better in PFF eyes than Ifedi as a run blocker, though.

Both James Daniels and Cody Whitehair ranked as respectable starters and Daniels at one point was judged the fourth-best run blocker among NFL guards, but tailed off at season's end to 18th best. His overall grade was 20th out of 84 guards graded.

The tackle situation and whether they can depend on Mustipher to show drastic improvement appear to be the biggest decisions ahead for the new coaching staff on the offensive line, so it would appear there's still work to do among blockers even after they drafted two possible starting tackles last year.

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