One of the biggest battles of training camp for the Chicago Bears has been at the left tackle position, much like it was this time last year when the Bears went down to the wire before naming a starter for Week 1 and then rolling out four different starters at the position throughout the 2025-26 season.

This time around, the main battle has been between Braxton Jones, Jedrick Wills Jr., Kiran Amegadjie, and now Theo Benedet being a late addition to the battle again. When it comes to deciding a winner, head coach Ben Johnson made it simple.

“We judge it off the tape,” Johnson said. “The tape tells us everything we need to know.”

Based on the tape from last Saturday’s preseason opener, Wills and Amegadjie no longer belonged in the conversation. Something that was confirmed when Johnson kicked both players over to right tackle this week to start getting a look at Benedet instead. And there’s a key thing Johnson hoped to see on tape from Benedet to consider him a viable option.

Ben Johnson challenged Theo Benedet to prove himself in pass pro, and he failed to deliver

Ahead of Thursday’s joint practice with the Cincinnati Bengals, Johnson was asked about Benedet’s case for the left tackle role and what the former undrafted free agent could show to prove he’s someone the Bears could consider again in that spot.

“When we looked at last year with him as a whole, it was ‘this guy is an asset in the running game. We like how he runs off the ball. He plays with good pad level and body lean, and he’s able to displace defenders,’” Johnson said. “It was the pass pro that was just a little bit behind, and so that was really his mission throughout the offseason was to make sure he’s in the right body position to where he’s not leaning forward in the pass pro.”

Johnson added that they’ve been “encouraged” from what they’ve seen so far and that Benedet was in “better positions fundamentally” than he was last season. The question was whether or not Benedet could continue that against a different opponent on the left side of the line.

Johnson called his shot and he got it. Let’s first point out that Jones and Benedet rotated throughout Thursday’s joint practice and both seemed fine. Things took a bad turn for Benedet during the final situational drill when he allowed back-to-back “sacks” against Myles Murphy backed up against the goal line. The second was even more egregious. It was an obvious passing situation with the Bears looking to get a chunk play back after the first sack. Instead, Benedet got beat again and gave up not only a “sack”, but one that would have been ruled a safety. Not a good look.

Let’s just call it, Braxton Jones is your starting left tackle of the Chicago Bears in Week 1

I’ve been in the belief all offseason long that Braxton Jones is the best option for the Bears at left tackle ever since he re-signed on a one-year deal. Jones has plenty of starting experience and the only thing that’s held him back is himself when it comes to injuries, something that’s showed up again in training camp.

But now, Jones is back to being healthy and looks like the best player at the position currently available. It’s time for the Bears to call it and name Jones the starter for Week 1, as long as he continues to stay healthy.

The Bears can’t afford to drag this out another two weeks like they did last season. It’s time to announce who the winner is and allow Jones to start building that chemistry with the rest of the starting four, including the All-Pro to the right of him in Joe Thuney.

“I think Joe would like some clarity on who he can build a rapport with,” Johnson said. “It’s been a little bit of a revolving door. He’s a pro’s pro and he’s willing to do everything, but you want five guys playing as one. We’ll go as long as we need to to figure out who those five are, but at the same time, the sooner we can make that decision, the sooner they can jell as a unit as well.”

Ozzy Trapilo could eventually make his way into this conversation again, but it’s still too early

The last remaining caveat in this conversation is Ozzy Trapilo, whom the Bears activated from the PUP on Sunday after coming back from a patellar tendon injury. Since being activated, Trapilo has only done light individual work and there’s been no rush to ramp him up, for this week at least.

“Obviously, physically, we feel really good about where he’s at or else we wouldn’t have brought him off the PUP,” Johnson said of Trapilo. “Now it’s a race to see how quickly we can rebuild the confidence. It’s going to look different for him than it is anyone else just in terms of how we continue to integrate him into drills, team drills, things like that.”

If the Bears can get Trapilo integrated back into team drills ahead of next week’s joint practice with the Tennessee Titans, then we can have a real conversation about the possibility of him starting Week 1. But, from what we’ve seen so far, I don’t think that’s going to be a reality. However, he’s already proved everyone wrong once this week with his recovery process timeline, so don’t rule him out just yet.

But, based on everything we’ve seen over the last week, it’s time to name Jones the starter while Trapilo continues to work his way back. And as for the 53-man roster, you’re still keeping Benedet as the swing/jumbo TE, which means Wills and Amegadjie are left grasping for a spot on the practice squad life raft to stick around in Chicago.