Bear Digest

Plenty of questions about Bears depth for next playoff round

Linebacker and tackle become hot spots for the Bears in preparation for their next playoff game after injuries ended the seasons of Ozzy Trapilo and T.J. Edwards.
Gene Chamberlain|
Bears linebacker D'Marco Jackson takes the field prior to a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Bears linebacker D'Marco Jackson takes the field prior to a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Throughout the season, Bears coaches have taken an approach designed to make their backups ready in case of injuries.

They'll be tested again in the divisional playoffs at two key positions after the season-ending injuries suffered against Green Bay by middle linebacker T.J. Edwards and tackle Ozzy Traplio in Saturday's playoff game.

They definitely have options and in this case because of their depth and experience backups gained. It becomes not so much a question of whether they have the depth but which players it will be they utilize.

Edwards had a boke fibula and his backup is D'Marco Jackson while Theo Benedet will replace Trapilo, who suffered a patellar tendon injury.

Jackson started four games earlier when the first four linebackers went out with injuries, and played so well he moved up a spot in the pecking order and then became strongside linebacker after a season-ending injury to Noah Sewell. 

Jackson knows the defense well from his time with the Saints in 2023-24 under Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen and has been an above-average pass defender. With the Bears, he allowed a passer rating of 35.4 while with the Saints it was 87.5 and 78.5. The Bears won three of his four starts, including the game against Philadelphia.

Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen describe the approach Bears players took toward subs earlier this year

"You try to find out what are the skillsets of the players that you have available to you, try to put them in positions to be able to do the things that they do well, try to minimize the times that you ask them to do things that maybe they're not as good at," Allen said. "Each week that might change based on who you have available to you.”

Linebacker depth has been greatly taxed this year, with the top four being out at one point and another linebacker. Because Jackson will now be forced to start, the Bears need to come up with a strongside to play in the base defensive package.

That can be a problem because Amen Ogbongbemiga has a concussion and would normally be the next one up.

They used Jalen Reeves-Maybin for eight plays with the defense Sunday after recently re-signing him to the practice squad. He had ben cut earlier. Also available is Ruben Hyppolite, the fourth-round rookie who has been available throughout the season but has been in for only 31 plays of defense despite all the linebacker injuries.

At tackle, Benedet moves in for Trapilo and actually has started more games than any left tackle for the team. Trapilo started six games, although he definitely graded out higher according to Pro Football Focus evaluations.

PFF graded Trapilo 36th of 89 tackles and 38th at pass blocking. The only sacks he allowed were two to Myles Garrett. PFF grades Benedet just 73rd of 89 blocking the pass and 73rd overall. He does have a better run-blocking grade than Trapilo at 45th overall.

The Bears won six of the eight games Benedet started.

The left tackle situation also brings back into play veteran tackle Braxton Jones.

Jones was benched after four games this season when Benedet took over and his production had been the problem, but he was trying to come back from last season's ankle injury and surgery. He struggled at run blocking, according to PFF, and allowed two sacks.

However, that was 3 1/2 months ago and since then he had been on injured reserve because he had suffered a knee injury.  

Would the Bears consider bringing back their old starter instead? It seems more likely they'd keep Benedet in the starting role where he finished the game.

In the meantime, this will become an area of potential need in the draft or free agency because Trapilo's injury happened so late in this season. They may need to have another starter in place when tackle didn't necessarily seem like a need.

Jones is a free agent after this season. Also, they have tackle Kiran Amegadjie but he has yet to impress anyone as a potential starter despite ideal 36-inch arms to play the position.

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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.