The Chicago Bears offensive line can never seem to catch a break these days. Things have gone sideways for them pretty much from the start. Germain Ifedi suffered a knee injury a few games into the season. Then Elijah Wilkinson went down with COVID-19 this past week. This isn’t even counting the injuries they suffered in training camp or having to cut both their starting tackles due to tight salary cap issues.
It shouldn’t be a huge surprise the unit is playing so poorly in certain areas. To be fair, veteran Jason Peters and right guard James Daniels have played pretty well. It just hasn’t been enough to compensate for problems elsewhere. Still, there might be some good news on the way. According to Peters, the line is about to get some reinforcements in the form of their two rookie draft picks, Larry Borom and Teven Jenkins.
This is certainly welcome information.
Jenkins was the Bears’ 2nd round pick in April but was forced onto the shelf almost immediately with a back problem. He underwent surgery and is in recovery. The fact that he might return in “a couple of weeks” as Peters said is an encouraging sign that his rehab has gone well. Borom suffered a nasty-looking high ankle sprain in the opener against the Los Angeles Rams. Unfortunate for him because it seemed like the rookie was playing pretty well before that.
Borom was probably the biggest talking point of training camp on the offensive line. Multiple experts close to the organization singled him out as somebody who was a pleasant surprise. It will be nice to get him and Jenkins back into the mix. No doubt Bears fans want to see if they can make any sort of tangible impact on the fortunes of this offensive line. If nothing else, it will help alleviate the significant depth issue they have at tackle.
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Chicago Bears offensive line has tons of question marks
Keep in mind that both of their starting tackles will be free agents next offseason. So will Daniels. That is three starters who could be gone by March of 2022. This team has to find out what they have in Jenkins and Borom sooner than later. That is why it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if the coaching staff looked to get them some playing time at some point within the next month or so.
Borom figures to be the first one back. The big question with him will be which spot the Chicago Bears choose to play him at. For most of training camp, they decided to shift him to left tackle and that is where he played in both the preseason and the opener. If that remains the case, will they consider taking Peters out for portions of games to get the kid some work? As for Jenkins, he was originally slated to be the new left tackle.
With Borom in that slot, will the Bears shift him back to right tackle?
That is where he played almost exclusively at Oklahoma State where he was dominant for long stretches. It would be the most logical play. A good way to get him back into the flow quickly. If they show some encouraging signs, it will offer the Bears some much-needed answers to what they must do up front next offseason.
