Windy City Gridiron
When rookie left tackle Ozzy Trapilo hobbled off the field on Saturday night to save the Chicago Bears a timeout, he was in visible pain, and we feared the worst. In his postgame press conference, head coach Ben Johnson confirmed Ozzy had injured his patellar tendon and was likely out for the remainder of the postseason.
Next man up in the game was second-year pro Theo Benedet, who has appeared in 16 regular-season games this year, with eight starts.
When Johnson was asked where his confidence was at with Benedet filing in for Trapilo, he said, “We’ve got tackles that have played a number of snaps over the course of the season, so your comfort level does go up. There’s a reason why Theo was out there, though. We felt really good about the ball that he was playing there in the second half of the season. So, it’s another one of those stories where it’ll be next man up for us. We’ve had a number of those over the course of the year.”
“And, Theo, if it’s his number that’s called upon, he’ll be ready to go.”
If it’s not #79 who’s called upon, the Bears may be able to call on #70, Braxton Jones, who began the season as the starter at left tackle and has had 44 starts at left tackle since 2022. He broke his ankle last season, and while he was back in camp and starting Week 1, he never looked fully back.
Jones started four games this year before the Bears turned to Benedet, and then a knee injury sent Braxton to injured reserve on October 26. He is currently in his 21-day practice window to return from IR, and he did practice in full last week, making it likely he’s activated to the 53-man roster for Sunday’s Divisional playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams.
My guess, whether Jones is activated or not, is that Benedet starts the game, but it’ll be good for their depth if they can get Braxton back.
