Rest assured that the offense will once again get primary attention in the offseason next year. If anything it should be getting attention right now. Especially at offensive tackle. Both of their starters have struggled at times this year, but none have come off looking more and more out of their depth than Charles Leno Jr.
Last season was an ugly one for the longtime left tackle. He gave up five sacks on the season and committed 12 penalties. A steep drop from his career-best 2018. It’s starting to look like that season was his peak. Since then he’s trended downward and the past two weeks may have become his rock bottom.
His run blocking hasn’t been great but it’s his pass protection that is standing out. Both Justin Houston and Shaq Barrett routinely beat him like a drum. Just look at these three plays from the Thursday night win over Tampa Bay.
Keep one thing in mind. All three happened in just the 4th quarter.
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Charles Leno can’t be trusted against the good teams
It doesn’t figure to get much easier in the coming weeks. Leno will be facing the likes of Cam Jordan, Jadeveon Clowney, Yannick Ngakoue, and Za’Darius Smith. He no longer has the mobile Mitch Trubisky to bail him out either. It’s the Nick Foles show now and he isn’t going to run away from a lot of sacks. Protection is paramount for him to succeed.
Leno has routinely shown he can’t provide it with any consistency. At this point, it may seem like they have no alternatives. Jason Spriggs isn’t any better of an option and Alex Bars is more of a guard. However, there is still one possibility they’ve yet to explore that could free them of this nightmare.
Veteran left tackle Cordy Glenn remains available as a free agent. He was a solid left tackle in Buffalo before being traded to Cincinnati. His first year there in 2018 was decent but things went sideways in 2019 due to a dispute with the team over the treatment of a concussion.
He just turned 31 and should be healthy by now. Can he be any worse than Leno has been? The Bears would be wise to at least give him a look.