Bear Digest

Future of key Bears position could be decided in the next few games

Facing the Packers and Browns in the next three games means running up against two of the best defensive players in the NFL and how the Bears hold up might solidify a job.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ozzy Trapilo (75) and Joe Thuney try to keep Caleb Williams' blind side free.
Ozzy Trapilo (75) and Joe Thuney try to keep Caleb Williams' blind side free. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Ozzy Trapilo's two games as starting left tackle went about as well as anyone could expect considering the competition he faced.

Pro Football Focus has him listed with five pressures allowed but no sacks in those two games.

It's about to get a lot tougher even than the edge rushers the Bears' rookie faced in wins over the Eagles and Steelers, but if he gets through the next few tests it could go a long way toward establishing him as the left tackle of the future moving forward.

“We faced a number of good ones," Bears coach Ben Johnson said. "I think the last one that you really earmarked to a degree was Maxx Crosby, and he still was able to affect the game quite a bit there when we played Vegas early in the season. Hutch (Detroit's Aidan Hutchinson) was another one just like that up in Detroit."

The Hutchinson battle was so early no one remembers much about it and it was three starting left tackles ago. Facing Micah Parsons his week and then next week against the closest thing to Godzilla in the NFL, Myles Garrett, could say a lot about the future for the Bears at left tackle.

"And so, we faced a number of them," Johnson said. "We’ve got, obviously both Micah and Rashan Gary here this week. And, going forward, it seems like we're going to have somebody every week.

"So, I think our guys do have some confidence. I do think they're playing well upfront in both the run game and the pass game. I'm talking about our offensive line. They're doing a really nice job right now. But, each week's its own story and we have to go out there and create our own narrative here this week.”

The line is doing well protecting Williams, with only 19 sacks allowed one season after he took 68 sacks. However, left tackle is entirely a different matter. It's being out on an island, and not as much of a team battle.

Parsons has 12 1/2 sacks and can line up over Trapilo or flip and come on the other side. Considering Trapilo's inexperience, it's easy to predict where he'll get most of his plays.

The dilemma facing the Bears in deciding between Trapilo or Theo Benedet in a game this year is simple. It's whoever gets the blocking done better, player's draft status meaning nothing.

“The draft status is out of the window once they enter the building, so that doesn't play a factor whatsoever," Johnson said. "We're always going to play the guy that gives us the best chance to win the ballgame. And so, that's where it starts.

"I think he's (Trapilo) an ascending player, just like you alluded to. He's still developing and he's going to continue to get better the more reps he has. I feel the same way about Theo, too. He's a young player that the more time on task he gets, the better he's going to get as well. So, I think that's a good problem to have is to have a number of young options at tackle that are only going to continue to get better."

It helps having a quarterback who can get them out of sacks, as Trapilo found out when Caleb Williams escaped a sack from Nolan Smith like he had eyes in the back of his head.

Either one would find this week's assignment difficult.

One way they can make it easier for Trapilo is to do what they did each of the last two weeks, and that's run the football. A team that can run the ball on the road can go play-action and freeze pass rushers. The Bears have come a long way with that as they finished last in the NFL at it last year.

Doing it might be tricky, particularly in a noisy road stadium like Lambeau Field. However, the Bears lead the NFL in road rushing by 66 yards over second-place Buffalo with 1,148 yards.

“I guess that's not even something I thought about, just being on the road versus at home with that," Johnson said. "I think that it's been a good thing because when you're on the road, certainly the crowd can be a factor and so you need to be a little bit more under center potentially, just so you can get off the rock all at the same time.

"Or, if you're in the gun, you're on the silent cadence. And so, maybe that plays a factor into it, but I think each and every week we try to look to develop a run game and if it's there, I'll lean into it a little bit more early on in the game and go from there. But, we have to earn it each and every week.”

Anything they can do to help the next three games it would be warranted as the Packers rematch is the third game in the stretch.

If they get through this stretch and Trapilo is still holding his own against the best pass rushers, it could very well be they may decide they don't need to look at the left tackle position for the draft or free agency.

2025 Sacks vs. Bears

Top Edge players

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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.