It was a bad day for the Chicago Bears offensive line on Sunday against the New York Giants and if one NFL analyst is correct, things aren’t going to get better as the year goes on.
The Bears lost to the Giants 20-12 and the biggest gripe from the game was the offensive line’s inability to protect quarterback Justin Fields. As a whole, the line surrendered six sacks and 15 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. A poor performance was made worse when guard Cody Whitehair left the game due to a knee injury that will likely sideline him for several weeks.
At full strength, the line had plenty of deficiencies. Now without one of their captains, things look grim with no end in sight, according to NFL analyst Trent Dilfer.
Dilfer, a former Super Bowl-winning quarterback and longtime NFL analyst joined 670 The Score’s Parkins and Spiegel Show on Monday to discuss the Bears offensive woes. Dilfer was complimentary of Fields’ performance and encouraged by the steps he took, but had a stern warning for the rest of the season when it comes to the offensive line and their pass blocking woes. “They’re going to really struggle in pass protection. There’s no fixing it. Just so you know, there’s no cure for this.” Dilfer said.
The former quarterback did detail how the Bears can limit the damage, however when it comes to obvious passing downs. “You can get better and put in pass protection schemes that are more full slides, more full gaps, covering up the inside players.” Dilfer explained. “But the center and right guard are going to get picked on. The center is getting destroyed and it’s going to happen the rest of the year.”
The center Dilfer is referencing is Sam Mustipher, who has struggled all season long in pass protection. On Sunday, Mustipher allowed six of the 15 pressures himself and graded out with a lousy 1.5 pass blocking grade on Pro Football Focus.
A change should be made at the position with someone like Lucas Patrick, who was signed in the offseason to play the position but missed all of camp with a thumb injury. Mustipher filled in and the coaches were reluctant to demote him and had Patrick play right guard instead. Now with Whitehair getting hurt, Patrick will fill in at left guard, leaving Mustipher as the struggling starting center for the foreseeable future.
With this current line combination, Bears fans might need to accept that Fields is going to be running for his life seemingly every week moving forward. It’s not exactly the ideal situation for a second-year quarterback who still needs development.
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