There is no sugarcoating the fact that the Chicago Bears offensive line struggled mightily in 2024. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams did not get the support he needed up front and the results from the season showed just that from a team standpoint.
PFF graded the Chicago Bears offensive line toward the bottom of the league
For their end-of-the-year offensive line rankings, PFF did not grade the Bears well. This is not a surprise to anyone who has followed the team, as the unit allowed 68 sacks throughout the course of the campaign. Out of the 32 offensive lines in the NFL, Chicago ranked 24th to finish the season.
The Bears weren’t ranked lower this season thanks to the play of second-year tackle Darnell Wright. The former Tennessee Volunteer graded out as the fifth-best right tackle this season. The only tackles ranked higher than Wright were Zach Tom, Penei Sewell, Brian O’Neill, and Lane Johnson. Despite Wright’s dominant second season in the NFL, there was not much support around the 2023 first-round draft choice.
The lack of production on the offensive line this past season made it difficult for Williams to get things going at times. There were multiple games where Chicago didn’t even find the endzone or were held scoreless in the first half.
Key starters like Braxton Jones and Teven Jenkins missed more than one game this season and put Chicago behind the eight-ball more often than not by operating with multiple backup linemen at once. The adjustments did not go well for offensive line coach Chris Morgan, and the Bears’ 5-12 record certainly reflects that.
The Chicago Bears will make multiple offensive line additions this offseason
With Wright and Jones staying with the team moving forward, it is up to the front office to figure out the other three positions on the offensive line. Chicago holds three draft picks in the first two rounds of the draft in April, and fans are hoping two of those go toward the line.
Tyler Booker is a name that the Bears are hoping they get to call on day two of the draft. The Alabama product would slide perfectly to the team’s interior and address the struggles they have been dealing with for years. The only issue is that many outlets project that Booker will either sneak into the latter part of the first round or very early on in round two.
Whether it’s Booker or another interior lineman in the second round, the Bears will still need to add another guy on the interior in free agency. The front office has plenty of cap space to work with this offseason, so they can fully pursue any options they’d like with full force.
When it comes to the tenth overall pick, Chicago should have one of Will Campbell or Kelvin Banks Jr. available to them. Both prospects are worthy of going that high in the first round and would put themselves in position for a potential battle with Jones in training camp. Whoever would lose this hypothetical contest would likely kick inside and play left guard.
The Bears cannot and will not enter the 2025 season with the same offensive line that they had in 2024. With the resources that they have available to them, the proper adjustments should be made to set the offense up for more success moving forward.
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