That is a bummer for fans, but it does make sense. The OL is just cobbled together with bailing wire and twine and duct tape right now. We don't have a starting C yet. Davis is a no show. Again. Wright is getting beat like a drum right now (not sure what's up with that but most reports say he's getting killed in pass protect). I don't think a sane person would put Caleb out there right now until the OL is at least partially fixed. It's early in camp so hopefully the Bears can fix their OL. Gotta admit it gets old with the same unit letting the team down.
Post by brasilbear on Jul 30, 2024 12:57:29 GMT -6
I've been somewhat disconnected (vacation and being sick with a cold) but I haven't seen any report about Wright having a bad camp or Sweat beating him like a drum. Was that a radio report?
I've been somewhat disconnected (vacation and being sick with a cold) but I haven't seen any report about Wright having a bad camp or Sweat beating him like a drum. Was that a radio report?
Yes, I'll try to find one of the reports from the regular Bears beat media people who reported that at camp he could simply not stop Sweat. Like at all. They said (multiple sources) that Sweat was able to beat him at will and go straight for Caleb. Of course Caleb is protected now and D guys are not allowed to blow him up. But they said in real games Caleb would have been road kill, just blasted out of his cleats.
EDIT: Just found this... there was a CHGO podcast about it too where Nick Moreno said Wright was just unable to pass protect against Sweat now that the pads are on. But here's this one I just found that was written earlier today:
LINK Chicago Bears training camp updates: Offensive line is already a mess and they’re not even halfway through 2024 training camp
The reports across the web are Wright can’t handle Sweat off the edge at all. This coincides with a lot of the struggles I saw from Wright a year ago in the games. Wright is an excellent run blocker, but struggles mightily with speed on the edge. He needs to get things figured out in a hurry because he’s supposed to take his game to the next level this year putting him amongst the best tackles in the NFL for 2024.
I don't know how true all of this is because I'm not at camp. My take on it is that, yes, it is early in camp and plenty of time to get the OL working better. But hopefully they can. Last year it was mid season before the OL started to work as it should. Surely the Bears can do better than that for Caleb Williams our rookie this year. It is so discouraging to have this OL unit being a problem so many seasons. Seems like most years it's an issue with this franchise. Wright does seem to have some solid talent, so hopefully he can fix whatever is wrong. And some will pipe in and say Sweat is a really good D guy (as if we won't face other good D guys all season long).
I've been somewhat disconnected (vacation and being sick with a cold) but I haven't seen any report about Wright having a bad camp or Sweat beating him like a drum. Was that a radio report?
Yes, I'll try to find one of the reports from the regular Bears beat media people who reported that at camp he could simply not stop Sweat. Like at all. They said (multiple sources) that Sweat was able to beat him at will and go straight for Caleb. Of course Caleb is protected now and D guys are not allowed to blow him up. But they said in real games Caleb would have been road kill, just blasted out of his cleats.
EDIT: Just found this... there was a CHGO podcast about it too where Nick Moreno said Wright was just unable to pass protect against Sweat now that the pads are on. But here's this one I just found that was written earlier today:
LINK Chicago Bears training camp updates: Offensive line is already a mess and they’re not even halfway through 2024 training camp
The reports across the web are Wright can’t handle Sweat off the edge at all. This coincides with a lot of the struggles I saw from Wright a year ago in the games. Wright is an excellent run blocker, but struggles mightily with speed on the edge. He needs to get things figured out in a hurry because he’s supposed to take his game to the next level this year putting him amongst the best tackles in the NFL for 2024.
I don't know how true all of this is because I'm not at camp. My take on it is that, yes, it is early in camp and plenty of time to get the OL working better. But hopefully they can. Last year it was mid season before the OL started to work as it should. Surely the Bears can do better than that for Caleb Williams our rookie this year. It is so discouraging to have this OL unit being a problem so many seasons. Seems like most years it's an issue with this franchise. Wright does seem to have some solid talent, so hopefully he can fix whatever is wrong. And some will pipe in and say Sweat is a really good D guy (as if we won't face other good D guys all season long).
Thanks. I don't worry about anything coming out of camp. Too much spin/interpretation across the board. Lots of teams have reporters saying their OLs aren't jelling, He-who-shall-not-be-named in NY had a hissy fit during practice because his OL couldn't do anything right. I'll check in about PS game 3 before I start up.
Thanks. I don't worry about anything coming out of camp. Too much spin/interpretation across the board. Lots of teams have reporters saying their OLs aren't jelling, He-who-shall-not-be-named in NY had a hissy fit during practice because his OL couldn't do anything right. I'll check in about PS game 3 before I start up.
+1 All that really matters is that it is set for the real games, the regular season. My hope is that the team at least can provide a somewhat "league average" unit that enters the season ready to play decent football. I think that may very well happen if the unit doesn't get hit with injuries like last year... the unit seemed to misfire until Jenkins came back and the team had 7 or 8 or so games under their belt. Our depth will sure need to step up if that happens. I am very curious if Larry Borom makes the final cut this year. If he is solid then by all means I hope we keep him. He does have a number of starts so maybe he's the guy again this year. He seemed to struggle last year though. BTW, here is a possible depth chart that Ourlads keeps up. It was last updated over the weekend (LINK).
FWIW, PFF (I know, we all love to hate PFF here), they had the Bears final 2023 OL ranking as being 19th in the league. They graded the weak links as C and RG (yeah, Patrick & Davis). They too, noted that the OL played much better during a stretch later in the season. The thing I take from that is if our C play is better (and it should be, right?) and Davis can get his problems worked out and play better (or maybe we replace him with Bates) - then we have a "league average" unit. LOL, who knows though, right?
