patheur

The Bears rely on a much-revamped offensive line against the Patriots

Sakege November 9, 2024

A logical rule when making substitutions on the offensive line is that one is better than two.

The Bears have had great success avoiding more than one starting change per week, although they have sometimes had to change more during a game due to injuries.

This Sunday against New England, there will likely be a two-player switch with Matt Pryor moving to tackle, Ryan Bates coming in at guard, and it could be three players if they move Larry Borom from left tackle to right tackle, but more likely. is that it’s Pryor at right tackle.

The problem is that they will be without starting left tackle Braxton Jones and right tackle Darnell Wright. It’s not very common for a team to have to replace both tackles.

“Yeah, it doesn’t happen very often, that’s for sure,” Eberflus said Friday. “But again, you have to adapt. You have to adapt. You have to overcome those adversities and the only way to do that is with the people in the building. They just rally around each other. I know the next thing man, but it’s really about helping to everyone around you and we have to do it in the future.

Eberflus tried to camouflage who would be where, but it will be obvious when they enter the field who chose which position, and there is always the possibility that they will try more than one combination.

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“During the week we had different combinations,” Eberflus said. “We worked on it. I’m not going to say who’s going to line up where and all that stuff, but we had a couple good combinations there and guys that worked well with the reps they got. It’s been good.

“(OC) Shane (Waldron) and (line coach Chris Morgan) have done a very good job of coaching those guys, as I’ve said in the past. I think they did a good job this week of getting those guys ready to go.”

Eberflus mentioned that the combinations included Jake Curhan at tackle in the game. So that’s something else to consider, but Curhan hasn’t started a game and was on the practice squad until last week.

Bates suffered elbow and shoulder injuries in the season opener and then went on the disabled list. He has healed and on Friday Eberflus said he would be activated from IR.

“So it will be nice to have some depth and some different pieces,” Eberflus said. “Obviously, with our injuries, we’ll need it for sure.”

The Bears went through a little more than a different starting offensive line regrouping almost every other week on average in Eberflus’ first two seasons and have been a little behind that pace this year, but will catch up this week.

“Of course, you always want to avoid any changes,” Eberflus said. “We would like to make this change, but sometimes you have to do more. When you have multiple injuries, a lot of times, you have to do more. We’ll see where it goes, and we have a plan for that. The guys have worked well this week.”

At least the Bears will have a defense close to full health, or as healthy as possible. The loss of defensive tackle Andrew Billings for the season after Thursday’s pectoral muscle surgery will take its toll anyway, as Zacch Pickens and veteran reserves Byron Cowart and Chris Williams must fill the void.

And safety Jaquan Brisker misses his third straight game in a four-week span due to a concussion suffered Oct. 6 against Carolina.

But cornerback Kyler Gordon returns and Eberflus is glad to have a big threat back on defense after his absence.

“It didn’t change much in terms of the plays,” Eberflus said. “The guys did a really good job: Reddy (Steward), (Josh) Blackwell – all those guys did a really good job of fitting in there and really stepping into that role.

“That’s a big spot on that defense. Our ‘Will,’ ‘Mike,’ inside guys. That guy’s been a big part of this defense. It’s great to have Gordon back. He’s had a good week of practice. He’s very dynamic in terms of pass coverage, in terms of his pass-rushing ability. He brings a lot of energy and has ballhawk skills.

The Bears defense has absorbed a collective blow to their egos after the loss to the Cardinals, when they were hit physically more than anything else.

Before the season they came in with a top-five goal in mind, but the last two weeks have taken them from sixth to 12th in total defense, although they remain No. 5 in scoring defense.

“Yeah, and I said it all through training camp: It’s a league to prove it,” Eberflus said. “You have to prove it. All this talk about being in the top five and all that stuff, it’s a big talk. It’s what you do on the pitch and how you perform every week.

“And we’ve had some plays, some long plays that increased yardage, so we’ve got to be more consistent. We’ve got to be more consistent and the guys have worked hard in terms of that, in terms of the run game this week and they’re excited about this upcoming performance.”

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