Bear Digest

Risky Chicago Bears move on the offensive line looms as likely

According to a Tribune report, the move of Joe Thuney to left tackle is now "expected" and other reports say it has been known to players and practiced this week.
Gene Chamberlain|
Joe Thuney wound up at left tackle in the Super Bowl and struggled. Now he's back there again against the Rams.
Joe Thuney wound up at left tackle in the Super Bowl and struggled. Now he's back there again against the Rams. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Expectations are now transitioning to certainty that left guard Joe Thuney is moving outside to left tackle for this Bears divisional playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams.

The report this might happen first came down on Saturday from the Tribune's Brad Biggs but it was left open as a strong possibility. At worst, it seemed like an option for them to ponder to replace injured starter Ozzy Trapilo, who is out for the year.

Biggs doubled down with authority on that one at about noon.

"I expect to see Joe Thuney at left tackle & Jordan McFadden at left guard," Biggs posted on "X."

Adam Hoge of CHGO said Bears players knew of this at the start of the week, and they're good at disguising it as we talked with Theo Benedet on Thursday in the locker room and he was looking forward to his game action coming up.

It doesn't matter. It's still very risky. So much for continuity of personnel being critical on the offensive line the next time the Bears use this as an excuse for poor blocking.

It's a way to keep Jared Verse or Byron Young, whoever lines up on the defense's right edge on a given play, from blind-siding Caleb Williams. Then again, Thuney did struggle doing this in the Super Bowl with seven pressures and a sack allowed.

When you move a 33-year-old All-Pro guard to left tackle you take a risk in a few ways. The first and most important is with his health. Thuney is not a tackle. He's older than last year when the Chiefs did this in desperation for three postseason games and also in three regular-season games.

Hamstrings, ACLs, just about anything can be easier for an athlete to damage if they're asked to do something physically beyond their capability. Thuney is a four-time All-Pro offensive lineman but at guard and doesn't normally need to go way outside and take on pass rushers bent on getting around the edge. It's going to be physically challenging.

Second, it's leaving left guard manned by someone with almost no NFL playing experience. McFadden was a fifth-round Chargers draft pick in 2023 and has been in 20 NFL games, seven in Chicago but none here as a starter. He has been on an NFL field for three downs of offense in the last two seasons, two of those with the Chargers last year.

The Bears go from an All-Pro at left guard to McFadden's completely untested ability, with rookie Luke Newman there to back him up.

The only thing any of this suggests is Johnson badly wants to line Colston Loveland at the left side in multiple tight end packages and let him go downfield unimpeded rather than force him to chip on Verse or Young or any other Rams edge on the offense's left side.

Otherwise, there's no point in this.

For the future, this suggests no confidence in Theo Benedet as a tackle and that he might eventually become a guard himself. Otherwise, they should just let him start at the position. He has played more snaps (522) than anyone at left tackle this season, 102 more than Trapilo.

The Bears spent last offseason greatly upgrading their offensive line, and in the most important game of the year, two games before the Super Bowl, they have torn it apart when they could have stuck with something that worked against Green Bay last week.

The injury to Trapilo already turns left tackle into a position of need for next year because a patellar tendon injury might not be healed 100% full strength by the start of next season. By yanking Benedet in the biggest game, they're also saying his backup isn't good enough.

Put tackle down as a major offseason need, an offseason that looks more likely to start on Monday now.

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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.