Tackle Trouble Not the End of the Bears' World
Complaining about how Bears GM Ryan Pace drafted an injured offensive tackle is a bit misguided.
Pace really deserves praise from Bears fans.
Sure, the Bears have a real problem with rookie left tackle Teven Jenkins rehabbing now following back surgery on Wednesday, and they knew he had the risk of injury when they drafted him.
At least that's what they say.
"We were aware of the back issues in college, but these are symptoms that are new," coach Matt Nagy said. "So this is something we're dealing with. He's at a point right now where we were trying different things to see if we could stay away from this.
"It's something that ended up getting to this point right now."
Injuries happen, but back injuries are a little different. It's possible this is an injury resulting from the other injury he had in college. This is how back conditions can be and this is from extensive personal knowledge. We don't know in this case because the Bears won't go into detail on what was done to his back.
The real Bears problem
Hall of fame writer Dan Pompei of The Athletic reported Jenkins had "numerous" back injuries in college. So this was more of a gamble by the Bears than an uninformed selection. They lose Round 1 of the gamble with Jenkins unavailable.
Whether or not this really is an entirely different injury, it's still easy to forgive and forget. If Jenkins comes back from his surgery, rehabs and contributes next year or even later this year it's relatively easy to dismiss the error.
The problem isn't Jenkins' being out. It's how Pace approached this season without any real left tackle on the roster.
It was another case where he provided insufficient backup help.
Actually, he provided insufficient starting help.
Pace's starter was a college right tackle who played the left side in seven games. The backup was Elijah Wilkinson, who had never played the left side in the NFL and admitted last week it was a difficult chore switching sides.
They shifted rookie Larry Borom to the left side and he has very little left tackle experience. He practiced there on Thursday. They even put 39-year-old Jason Peters on the field at left tackle during Thursday's practice for a handful of snaps on his very first practice at Halas Hall. He might be their best starter.
Par for the Ryan Pace course
Pace has had a history of short-changing his head coach in terms of quality depth.
The 2019 tight end fiasco occurred at the beginning of training camp with Trey Burton's groin/hip problems continued on to Adam Shaheen's minor injuries. They had 46 receptions from all the tight ends combined and it was left over from Burton's original injury that occurred on the eve of the playoffs the previous year.
Pace didn't provide proper inside linebacker backups last year after they lost Kevin Pierre-Louis and Nick Kwiatkoski in free agency. Sure enough, in the playoffs Roquan Smith was unavailable due to injury and the Bears wound up starting Manti Te'o against the Saints after he had never been on the field for them in the regular season.
Of course it didn't work out well.
Pace did this at running back last year as they were forced to use kick returner/receiver Cordarrelle Patterson in the backfield after David Montgomery's concussion and Tarik Cohen's torn ACL. It didn't work, as Patterson averaged a paltry 3.6 yards an attempt. Patterson runs back kicks spectacularly, but doesn't run handoffs well.
The depth at cornerback—left and slot—looks shaky for the Bears now, as well.
It's in incomplete effort by Pace considering he had all offseason to get someone with more experience at tackle. Now they'd depending on a 39-year-old tackle who doesn't know the offense, or a rookie, or a player who never played on that side of the ball at what many consider the most important position on the line.
Praise Ryan Pace
So how does Pace deserve praise?
It should come from Bears fans who clamor for Justin Fields to be the starting quarterback.
Without a sufficient left tackle, the best Bears bet for any sort of offense might be starting Fields.
The great Jerry Kramer in his book Instant Replay recounted how the Packers of the 1960s on the offensive line were legendary but had one type of block quarterback Bart Starr didn't really appreciate. It was called the "look out" block. They hollered at Starr to "look out" after they missed a block on Deacon Jones or some other marauding pass rusher.
The Bears will be doing plenty of "look out" blocks this year without a sufficient left tackle, and in that case it would be much better to have a quarterback who can run like Fields can.
At least he gives them a fighting chance.
If it's Dalton starting, it might be Fields playing anyway. Dalton didn't last long behind a porous line last year in Dallas. He left with a concussion in his second start after replacing injured Dak Prescott. Dalton isn't entirely immobile but enough so that blown pass blocks will make him a sitting duck.
Considering the possibility of injuries or quarterbacks getting clobbered is never tasteful. The Bears can prevent this by playing Fields at quarterback.
If they don't, they may have to play him anyway.
So in that respect, Bears fans will owe a thank you to their short-sighted GM for helping to put Fields on the field before Nagy prefers.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
