Juan Castillo knew why he was brought in as the Chicago Bears offensive line coach. The group was bad last season. So many missed blocks. Poor pass protection. Zero push off the ball in the running game. It felt like a line that too often was outmatched. It was his job to reinvigorate them. How would he do that? Plenty of ways. One of his most notable is putting more responsibility on the shoulders of Cody Whitehair.
Castillo is of the belief that the center is the most important member of an offensive line. He’s the brains. The guy who makes all the calls in the game and communicates to the others. When the center doesn’t do those things correctly, everything suffers. So the coach has made it his mission in training camp to chew out Whitehair every time there are major mistakes by the front five.
One would think this might create some animosity between the two.
As it turns out that isn’t the case at all. In Whitehair’s mind, it’s the opposite as he told Bears media a couple of days ago.
“It means a lot. He’s putting a lot of trust in me and that makes me feel good. As a center, you are the leader and it all starts with your points and your calls. We just have to make sure everybody is on the same page and continue the small steps that we are taking…
…He just started every day with the basic fundamentals. And I think as long as we keep that up like we’re going to—just keep working those fundamentals—that’s going to help us later down the road and we’re not going to forget certain little things and the basics of what it means to play O-line as far as our feet and hands. We’re going to keep doing that in Week 1 and Week 17, and that’s going to help us be a better line.”
Cody Whitehair sounds like a man focused on taking control
While he never came right out and said it, Whitehair seemed to indicate he never should’ve been moved from center last season. It was a spot he’d grown accustomed to and done a fine job in 2018. Yet the Bears felt compelled to shift James Daniels there. After an eight-game run, they realized they’d made a mistake. Whitehair was moved back. Now it’s been made clear that position belongs to him.
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Castillo is making sure he doesn’t get comfortable with that reality. Whitehair may be the right guy for the job, but respect isn’t given. It’s earned. His responsibility to make everybody around him better. That is what great centers do. Whitehair is capable of being great. That was never a question. It’s time to stop talking about it and start doing it.
