Windy City Gridiron
The Chicago Bears could enter Week 1 with four new starters along the offensive line. With the three interior additions solidified as starters, who will win the left tackle job?
Over the past decade-plus, the best ways to describe the Chicago Bears’ offensive line play have been far more negative than anything positive. Disappointing. Bad. Really bad. Awful. Worst in the league. All adjectives have been used to describe this group for far too long. When fans ask why young quarterbacks fail in Chicago or why their offenses have consistently been in the bottom half of the league, there’s a simple explanation: It all starts up front.
That’s a concept that many failed regimes before general manager Ryan Poles never seemed to figure out. Even Poles himself has struggled to address their shortcomings properly, which has led to two young quarterbacks being sacked into submission in far too many games.
Breathe easy, Bears fans. When Ben Johnson was hired in late January, he brought a level of common sense that has continually eluded his predecessors. Not only did Chicago hire an offensive guru, but they’ve hitched their wagon to a coach who understands the core concepts of protection and how that directly impacts how good any offense can become.
Going into the offseason, all three starting interior spots were open for business. Instead of pivoting to re-sign one of those players for a false sense of comfort, the team remained aggressive in its approach to drastic improvement. The free agent market wasn’t as strong as last year, and became worse when Kansas City franchise-tagged Trey Smith. Instead of panicking, the team’s front office pivoted to trade options. In less than 24 hours, they acquired Jonah Jackson and All-Pro Joe Thuney for a 2025 sixth-round pick and a 2026 fourth-round pick, respectively. It would have been easy (and understandable) for them to rest on their laurels when it came to center. Instead, they remained aggressive by landing Drew Dalman in the opening hour of the legal negotiation period. In that way, the Bears had taken a unit that was well below average and turned it into a strength.
Heading into the draft, left tackle was the only starting spot in question. Incumbent starter Braxton Jones is coming off a brutal broken leg that cost him the final few games in late December. On top of that, Jones is one year away from cashing in with a fresh deal. Like it or not, the Bears have reached a point in their roster-building process where they must look ahead to the future. Part of that involves assessing the financial impacts on specific positional groups, such as the offensive line. Considering the Tennessee Titans gave Dan Moore a four-year, $82 million deal with $50 million in total guarantees, that should act as a baseline for Jones in contract negotiations with the Bears. After all, Jones has been a considerably better player over his first three years in the league. Add that yearly figure onto...
