The Chicago Bears are getting closer and closer to getting second-year offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo back in action after suffering a patellar tendon injury back in January, but are still playing things patiently with his return.

The fact Trapilo is even on the active roster right now and a potential option for the Bears to use up-front at some point this season is incredible in itself. Patellar tendon injuries are some of the worst injuries for any athlete to return from, much less an offensive lineman.

Trapilo has put in serious work to get to this point and getting him back on the field in a live game is going to happen sooner than later for this offense.

Ben Johnson provides an update on where Ozzy Trapilo is in his recovery process

Last week, Trapilo practiced as a full participant during Friday’s session and was not listed on the final injury report with an injury designation. However, Friday’s practice was not one of the fully padded sessions and the Bears still decided to make Trapilo a healthy inactive for Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings.

This week, Trapilo is expected to practice fully during Wednesday’s padded practice before the team has the day off on Thursday, followed by two more days of practice on Friday and Saturday ahead of Monday night’s game.

“It’s something we look at the end of each week, just all of Ozzy’s reps over the course of the week – what did they look like, and continue to coach him up and get improvement as we go through it,” head coach Ben Johnson explained on Wednesday.

Not every day is going to look the same for Trapilo right now, but the Bears are putting a lot of emphasis in today’s padded practice to see how Trapilo looks, and then it’ll be just as important to see how he looks in the following days after this session.

“I think he is still gaining confidence in just being able to put all of his weight in it and being a powerful player,” Johnson added. “And yet, in some ways, he’s a little bit more flexible and fluid than he was before. Which is amazing. It’s a credit to him and those guys that have been working with him. It’s just a matter of time now before we feel like he’s ready for a game.”

Braxton Jones has been holding down the fort pretty well in Ozzy Trapilo’s absence

While Trapilo continues in his recovery process, Braxton Jones has started each of the last two weeks at left tackle. The fifth-year tackle earned the starting opportunity during training camp and has impressed so far.

On 67 pass blocking snaps this season, Jones has allowed zero sacks and just two pressures. In the run game, he’s played at a decent level as well with a 62.5 run blocking grade according to Pro Football Focus. The Bears knew Jones could play at a high level, the key was whether or not he could sustain that level of play for a full game.

To help with that, the Bears have rotated Theo Benedet in at left tackle for a couple of drives in the middle of each game (19 total snaps at left tackle) to help Jones keep his consistency up for an entire game.

“Braxton’s been pretty good,” Johnson explained. “I think he’s done a nice job. We talked about platooning him just a little bit there with Theo (Benedet) just to keep him fresh late in games. I think he strains, he finishes, his understanding of the run game has served him well. I think he’s done a nice job for two weeks in.”

Even when Benedet has rotated in, there hasn’t been much of a drop-off. Benedet has allowed zero sacks and zero pressures on 18 pass blocking snaps and the Bears are high on his athletic ability in the run game. In fact Jones and Benedet were actually the only offensive linemen that didn’t allow a pressure on Sunday against the Vikings’ defense.

Between Jones and Benedet, the Bears have gotten serviceable play out of the left tackle position through the first two weeks. That’s allowed the team to stay patient with Trapilo’s timeline until he’s fully ready.