The Chicago Bears rookie class was an unsurprisingly mixed bag in the preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers. David Montgomery was outstanding in his brief appearance. Undrafted tight end Ian Bunting had a holding penalty, allowed a sack, fumbled a ball, but also had three catches for 77 yards. Duke Shelley had nice coverage but also allowed a big play in coverage. The undrafted pass rushers were almost invisible. These are things that teams want to see. It gives them an idea of what they have.
One performance that didn’t get a lot of attention was by undrafted guard Alex Bars. This kid is quite the story. A product of Notre Dame, he seemed headed for a date with the draft this past year before tragically tearing his ACL. That caused him to fall off most boards. Eventually, he signed with the Bears, wanting to reunite with his former line coach Harry Hiestand.
The coach himself believes the team got a good football player. Somebody who can start not long down the road once he’s fully healthy and up to NFL speed. His performance against the Panthers seemed to reinforce this. Bars played a total of 53 offensive snaps on the evening. The Bears ran 36 passes over that span, during which he did not surrender a sack, hit, or pressure on the quarterback. He also didn’t commit a penalty.
Here’s a clip from the game that illustrates it. He’s the left guard in the frame. Good feet and hand technique. He walls off the defensive tackle and rides him up the field, giving the quarterback a nice throwing lane to Bunting for a big gain.
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Alex Bars is a Chicago Bears rookie with long-term promise
Bars has a ways to go before he’s ready for the field as a starter. He’s still recovering from that knee setback. It will take some time to reach full strength. There are also issues to clean up regarding his technique. Playing against lesser competition on the evening helped mask the problem. This is not a huge concern. Rookie offensive linemen typically suffer from such things. That’s why the Bears pay Hiestand the big bucks.
If not a starter, at the very least it looks like the Bears could have themselves a capable and cheap backup for the next few years. That’s all a team could ask for out of an undrafted free agent, and another sign that GM Ryan Pace knows how to handle that area roster building. It’s a good story either way. Bars looks like he will be the favorite to make the roster at guard alongside Ted Larsen to back up Kyle Long and Cody Whitehair.
