Ben Johnson Confirms Chicago Bears' Starting Left Tackle for Week 1 vs. Panthers

One of the biggest questions of the entire offseason has been who will start at left tackle for the Chicago Bears.

After Ozzy Trapilo suffered a torn patellar tendon last season, the job was up for grabs. The Bears proceeded to have a competition that included Braxton Jones, Jedrick Wills, Kiran Amegadjie and Theo Benedet. Wills and Amegadjie are now gone, though.

Trapilo himself added an interesting wrinkle to things after he was able to return from the PUP list well ahead of schedule, which left open the possibility he could start in Week 1.

However, it won't be Trapilo or Benedet starting in Week 1 and instead the Bears will deploy Jones, head coach Ben Johnson revealed on Tuesday before practice.

"Bears coach Ben Johnson reveals that Braxton Jones will start Sunday’s season opener at left tackle," Larry Mayer of ChicagoBears.com relayed.

The expected outcome

Jones has been the clear front-runner for the starting left tackle job the entire offseason after he saw the vast majority of the first-team reps at the position for Chicago during the offseason program and training camp.

Sure, Trapilo's return made things interesting, but given the fact that he has yet to take part in a full practice just days before the first game of the season was a clear indication he wouldn't be ready to go in Week 1.

Will Braxton Jones start all season?

According to Chris Emma of The Score, Johnson noted that the evaluation at left tackle would continue through the start of the season, so Jones is anything but set in stone.

We have already seen Jones is very capable of losing his starting job after getting benched in 2025. Granted, he was in the first year back from a significant injury, but the Bears won't hesitate to pull him again if his play isn't up to snuff.

Johnson's comment about an ongoing evaluation leaves the door open for the Bears to turn to Trapilo at any point once he's 100%. When that is remains to be seen, though.

"He's strong, he's flexible. I don't want to put a timeline on it, but we are headed in the right direction," Johnson said of Trapilo on Tuesday, per CHGO Bears.

In the interest of continuity, we suspect the Bears will stick with Jones if he's playing at a high level and Trapilo isn't autmatically going to be re-inserted into the starting lineup.

But if there is any hint of trouble with Jones, we expect the Bears to have a quick hook to the player once viewed as the future at the position.

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