Fixing the offensive line was priority one for the Chicago Bears going into this year. You can’t have your quarterback get sacked 68 times and maintain the status quo. GM Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson knew they had to find multiple solutions. The odds of finding them in the draft alone were unrealistic. If they wanted to turn things around quickly, they would have to get creative. To Poles’ credit, he did. In one fell swoop, the Bears revamped their entire interior offensive line, headlined by former All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney in a trade with Kansas City and free agent center Drew Dalman.
However, the most controversial move was trading for right guard Jonah Jackson. People knew he’d had great success in Detroit under Johnson, but that was years ago. His recent stint in Los Angeles was a disaster, marked by injuries and ultimately resulting in him being benched. Poles knew this, but made the deal anyway, flipping a 6th round pick to the Rams. As it turns out, that move is shaping up to be one of the Bears’ best. In five games this season, Jackson has only nine pressures with no hits or sacks on the quarterback. Five of those pressures came in the opener against Minnesota.
He’s also a core part of an offensive line that ranks 3rd in run-block win rate.
The Chicago Bears trusted the one person who knew Jackson best.
There is no question that the trade was made at the behest of Coach Johnson. He’d worked with the veteran guard for years and understood what he did best. If put in that same situation again, it was logical that Jackson would return to his productive ways. Such an evaluation has proven correct. The 28-year-old is back to the form he showed in Detroit. If this holds for the rest of the season, that trade should be considered one of Poles’ best. Getting a top-shelf guard in his prime for a 6th round pick is winning football. It also eases the pressure on the team to find long-term solutions since he should be able to play at least a couple more seasons. As always, it comes down to health.
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