Bears must decide if keeping two struggling offensive starters in place sends the right message on accountability from the coaches
Tough decisions need to be made by this staff.
Two games into the 2025 season, it’s clear head coach Ben Johnson and the rest of his staff need to send a stronger message to the Chicago Bears’ locker room, especially coming off a loss like the team had on Sunday against the Detroit Lions.
It’s inexcusable on all three facets of the game and now is where the accountability is supposed to come in from the coaching staff to get this ship corrected before it gets even worse.
Defensively, it’s a hard thing to enforce. The unit is without three starters in Jaylon Johnson, T.J. Edwards, and Kyler Gordon and simply don’t have the depth to make any real changes. But, the coaches do need to hold players like Montez Sweat more accountable for their lack of performance.
On the offensive side of the ball, the team has plenty of depth to implement changes to the starting lineup and it’s time the coaches start having those conversations.
Bears should consider benching struggling starters on offense
Benching is a strong word there and really only applies to the offensive line in this situation. But, even with the skill players, some snap shares need to be adjusted going forward in areas such as the running back position.
As for the offensive line, it’s time Johnson and offensive line coach Dan Roushar start looking into a potential move. Consistency was a known issue going into the season with left tackle Braxton Jones and right tackle Darnell Wright, something that’s clearly still evident after two weeks.
When Jones was named the starter at the position, Johnson made sure to let it be known that his level of play will be evaluated and changes could be made if the coaches deemed it necessary. Through two games, Jones has allowed 13 pressures (most among all tackles) and two sacks.
During garbage time in Week 2, Theo Benedet replaced Jones at left tackle and finish the game with the team’s highest pass blocking grade, albeit in a very limited role. It’s worth giving Benedet the opportunity to start the next two weeks and then evaluate the position more during the bye week.
As for Wright, protection has been there for the most part. In Week 1, Wright allowed zero pressures on 46 pass blocking snaps and the only negative was a phantom holding call. In Week 2, Wright struggled allowing one sack, but only one pressure.
The real kicker for Wright has been the false starts. Between the two games, Wright has been called for two false start penalties and even had a chop block flag that killed a drive. Johnson noted after the game that those types of negative plays “really hurt us” as was the case in Week 1.
The option at right tackle is to see what second-round rookie Ozzy Trapilo can do over the next two weeks. Trapilo is more comfortable on the right side and there’s no reason to have a second-round rookie listed as a healthy inactive.
Accountability needs to be had for this team after the way the last two games went down. These are just two changes the team should consider over the next two weeks in order to get a proper evaluation of those spots before getting into the rest of the season.
Chicago Bears News
Bears’ Week 2 loss to Lions exposed a glaring liability and it’s not something the team will be able to fix anytime soon
It could a consistent issue all season.
