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How Bears Offensive Line Starts at a Higher Launching Point This TIme

Both because of their offensive line's experience together in Ben Johnson's attack and a scheduling quirk, the Bears could roll on the ground earlier this year.
Gene Chamberlain|
Bears guard Jonah Jackson sees the offensive line coming together quicker, and their schedule can provide an extra boost.
Bears guard Jonah Jackson sees the offensive line coming together quicker, and their schedule can provide an extra boost. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears


The Bears last year started slowly in Ben Johnson's offense and no one could have been surprised.

Even with changes in their offensive line this year, they don't expect it to be the same as last year, particularly in the running game. And if the running game is clicking, the battle is more than half won because of their reliance on play-action and the outside zone run blocking. They also have one other fun advantage for much of the season.

"I mean, you always want to get off to a fast start," guard Jonah Jackson said, before he later went on to compare Caleb Williams' new mustache to that of Gomez Addams. "I mean, every one matters, every game matters so you hope to do that. This is a long season. Things happen. That is always the goal."

The line has already been discussing with line coach Dan Roushar what's necessary to avoid a start like last year, when they averaged only 102.2 yards rushing for the first four games. Without that poor start they might have led the NFL in rushing. As it was, they finished third.

"Just we said it today, clean and communication," Jackson said. "Last night I think there were like 17 penalties in the (Seattle-New England) game. So minimize penalties and have clear communication and have everybody executing their assignment and things should be good."

Garrett Bradbury is one key

Center Garrett Bradbury is the only different starter from the beginning of last year, although Braxton Jones is new since the end of last year. Center is vital since he binds the positions all together and points out defensive changes for their blocking scheme.

"Garrett's been great," Jackson said. "Coach gave him a shout-out today after practice. Just his communication has been phenomenal since he got here. But we're clicking up front right now.

Just we can't wait to see how it look on Sunday."

Bradbury has taken charge and quickly fit in, much the way he did in helping New England get to a Super Bowl.

"I think Garrett has earned a lot of trust coming in here," offensive coordinator Press Taylor said. "And the way he's commanded the huddle, the way he's commanded the line of scrimmage, our communication aspect, the way he does things, he's very loud, very vocal, very confident, but also very intelligent.

"He does a really good job of how we want to do it. There's a lot of conversation that goes on. I mean, we pause a walkthrough, we huddle up and it's Dan (Roushar), Caleb, Ben, Garrett, all in there having a conversation about how we're going to ID certain (defensive) things because it changes if they do this versus that (formation). So he's earned a lot of trust and a lot of respect from a lot of the guys, the coaches and players as well, with what he's done in the last six, seven months that we've had him.”

A hidden gem in the Bears' schedule for offense

If they can convert this into the desired cohesive unit and move forward from a higher starting level in their run blocking than last season, there's no telling what kind of start to the year they can have as an offense for one very simple fact. They could find building offensive momentum much easier because they will be facing pretty much the same base defensive approach from opponents in eight of their first nine games.

For almost the entire first half of the season, they'll be facing 3-4 base defenses. In the second half, it will change up but for the first half it's almost all 3-4. The one 4-3 base they face is the New York Jets, one of the worst teams on their schedule. The Jets' coach is Aaron Glenn, Johnson's former colleague when they were in Detroit. So they're very familiar with that defense anyway.

When an offensive line can come out and knows what to expect from a defensive front every week, they can build up a very detailed and specific approach to igniting the running game. Of course, opponents' talent level and ability to execute that front matters but repetition breed success.

Johnson is a certified offensive genius with a top six finish overall by his offenses with two different teams in each of his four seasons. Give him the head start of knowing his running game faces a 3-4 every week, and the line's experience doing it, and they could be churning up opposing defenses in no time at all.

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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.

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