The Chicago Bears entered a nightmare scenario last Sunday. Their offense was already a complete mess for a variety of other reasons. The last thing they needed was more problems on the offensive line. They’d lost James Daniels and Bobby Massie to injuries. Cody Whitehair quickly followed with one of his own. That was enough right? Nope. A COVID-19 outbreak soon knocked two other guys out of action. One had to feel sympathy for Juan Castillo.
He was hired by Matt Nagy in January with some pretty lofty expectations. He’d fix everything that went wrong with the line in 2019. Don’t worry. That wasn’t really fair to Castillo. Especially since the team did pretty much nothing to give him some help. A couple of cheap free agents in Germain Ifedi and Jason Spriggs. Then two 7th round picks in Arlington Hambright and Lachavious Simmons.
Sunday in Tennessee was a low point.
The Bears were forced to jumble their line to almost Frankenstein levels. They moved Rashaad Coward from left guard to right tackle. Hambright took his spot at left guard. Last but certainly not least? Former undrafted free agent Alex Bars, who played just tackle and guard in college, was plugged in at center for the first time in his football career.
It sounds like a mess and for much of that game, it was. However, Castillo wasn’t all doom and gloom a day later when he spoke to the media. In fact, he had some praise to heap on at least one player from that game. None other than Bars. Despite all the things going against him, the coach felt the second-year lineman performed far above expectations.
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#Bears offensive line coach Juan Castillo praising Alex Bars for his performance at center yesterday, a position he had never played before, and with very little practice time last week: "One of the best performances I've ever been around as a coach."
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) November 9, 2020
Juan Castillo may have future plans for Bars
There is video evidence to back this up. Now let’s make it clear. Bars wasn’t perfect on Sunday. There was a botched snap exchange at one point and he didn’t really do much in the running game. Still, he looked steady in pass protection for the most part. Something that can’t be said about most of his colleagues. It begs the question Bears fans have been asking for weeks.
Why isn’t Bars playing more? The team gave up a lot to sign him as an undrafted free agent. Then they worked hard to convince him to stay after the New England Patriots came calling last year. Yet for some reason Nagy hasn’t given him a true opportunity, instead feeling more comfortable with Coward as the primary interior backup.
Could that change soon?
Coward continues to struggle and the Bears are searching for answers. Bars playing above expectations leads one to assume the obvious. Juan Castillo may push to elevate him into the starting lineup. Center Cody Whitehair is expected back soon. So it wouldn’t be there. However, left guard remains a big problem. Bars could easily slide into that spot.
The goal for the Bears has to be getting the five best blockers possible on the field. Bars has shown enough glimpses to indicate he can be one of those five. Give him a chance.