The Chicago Bears have allowed 11 sacks in the past two games on Justin Fields. Their offensive line hasn’t been able to consistently pass protect. What makes it even more terrifying is three of their next four games will be on the road against strong defenses in Minnesota, New England, and Dallas. Well, injury to insult always seems to be the name of the game in this league. More bad news got piled on Monday when head coach Matt Eberflus revealed left guard Cody Whitehair was going to miss “some time.”
He wasn’t specific about anything else. Yet it’s not hard to gauge where this is going. Whitehair exited the New York Giants game with a right knee injury. He was spotted wearing a brace coming out of the locker room and needed a cart to carry him to the team bus. It is hard to speculate that he may land on Injured Reserve in the near future. That would knock him out for at least the next four weeks.
Just like that, the Bears have lost their most experienced blocker.
Coach Eberflus announced that Cody Whitehair will miss some time with a knee injury. pic.twitter.com/66K44NDZDa
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 3, 2022
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The Chicago Bears don’t have many solutions.
Their depth along the offensive line was already questionable. Lucas Patrick figures to replace Whitehair at left guard while Sam Mustipher stays at center. Teven Jenkins will take over the right guard spot full-time. Not an inspiring trio outside of Jenkins. It reinforces why GM Ryan Poles was so active in the off-season trying to find help. Justin Fields is already the most sacked quarterback in the league. Nobody wants to think about the idea it might get worse.
One also has to wonder how this might impact Whitehair’s future. He’s 30 years old and a holdover from the previous regime. The Chicago Bears would be able to get out of his expensive contract while securing $5.8 million in cap space next off-season. Poles tends not to like older players with injury histories. Whitehair has been largely dependable most of his career. This setback is untimely for him.
@ Lynn Todd: With your logic, we will need to use our 1st round pick EVERY year on a QB. No QB develops as fast as you expect, especially under these catastrophic circumstances. No not one!
This is beginning to look worse than Nagy, a lot worse.
Borom has been a weak link at RT and can probably play LG OK. If Patrick can snap, the plan should be to go with Jones, Borom, Patrick, TJ and Reiff, at least for now. Leatherwood will get his chance. Heck, Mustipher was doing OK at guard in camp so maybe platoon him with Borom till one moves ahead.
Whitehair actually frees up $9.9MM if they designate him as a 6/1 release, which I have been planning on in projecting 2023 cap space.. I think its time we see if Alex Leatherwood is worth anything. They can’t hide him forever, nor should they, and he’s been on the team long enough now to understand the playbook and blocking schemes. He’s making first rounder money. Its time to see if he can earn it.
Fields gets rid of the ball faster or you won’t make it to the half way point of the season. If not with the no.1 pick the Chicago Bears pick QB …………. In the 2023 NFL Draft