Matt Nagy has been around the game of football for a long time. Most of his life. So it must be quite a moment when he still manages to get surprised. He thought he’d seen just about everything in regards to how players act on and off the field. During his first press conference of Organized Team Activities, he revealed that assumption was wrong. This courtesy of a lesson from the Chicago Bears offensive line.
A few days ago he was treated to a fascinating sight. One fostered by the careful work of offensive line coach Juan Castillo. One message he’s tried to get across is that everybody should not be in the interest of being the best offensive lineman on the field. They should be focused on being the best offensive line. That means learning to act in concert as one. The best way to do that? Always do everything together.
This may sound odd to outsiders, but there is a logic to it.
The best way for an offensive line to block at their best is understanding exactly what each of them is going to do from one snap to the next. That requires an intimacy that is rare for athletes. Something like that is only achieved in close proximity to one another. The more often they’re together, the stronger that connection becomes. It isn’t a new process. Several great offensive lines in the past have acted this way.
What makes it so interesting is how young the group is. Out of their 15 offensive linemen on the roster, none of them are older than 28. That is rather remarkable. Normally a group has at least one or two guys who are 30 or older. For this bunch to be acting that tight despite their young age is a sign of the personalities involved. Particularly leaders like Cody Whitehair and Sam Mustipher.
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Matt Nagy finally has something cooking up front
There were signs of it last season. Thanks to some timely adjustments by Castillo, the front began to coalesce down the stretch. Mustipher took over at center while Whitehair shifted to left guard. They also got a big contribution from Alex Bars at right guard. Things have gotten even more interesting in the past few months. James Daniels returns from his pectoral injury and a pair of draft picks in Teven Jenkins and Larry Borom are now involved.
On paper, the talent of this group is improved. Surprising to say considering they cut both their starting tackles from last season. There is plenty of proving to do. Most notably Jenkins shifting from his usual right tackle spot in college over to left tackle. Yet it doesn’t seem like he’s intimidated by the shift. If he plays up to his potential? Matt Nagy and the rest of the staff will be quite satisfied.
One thing is for certain.
The chemistry of this group might be the best seen by this Bears offense in a long time. There should be far fewer miscommunications and mental mistakes. Cutting those down will only lead to good things from either Andy Dalton or Justin Fields at quarterback.