Bears O-Line: Don’t Hype Them Yet
Published by Geoffrey Clark on August 24, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Bears fans who watched the team’s preseason victory over the New York Giants will be quick to point out the success Jay Cutler had in his home debut.
One scoring play in which he was not involved was Matt Forte’s long touchdown run.
A lot of the credit on that play deservedly goes to the offensive line.
For the rest of that first half though (there’s not much to write about the second half), some fans will talk about how great the offensive line was, and therefore, is.
Don’t get me wrong when I talk about how good it was, but those fans are basing their projections on one game.
A preseason victory no less.
If you’re ready to crown this O-line the best in football, consider this: the Giants were missing six defensive starters on Saturday due to injuries, including two on the D-line.
One of the players out for New York was linebacker Antonio Pierce.
Going back to Forte’s run, Frank Omiyale, who is likely to win the starting left guard job, threw a nice block on Pierce’s replacement.
A good block by a projected starter on a backup linebacker should be expected.
Forte even made a statement to back up this idea. ”Everybody made some nice blocks on that play; I never got touched,” he accounted.
The fact that Giants safety Kenny Phillips was also held out of the game should also be considered when reading Forte’s description of his philosophy and what followed once he got an opening: “Once I get to the second level, I am looking for the safeties to see where they are because once you make a safety miss, that’s when you make a big play. The safety was already out of position, so I just cut up the field and beat him with speed.”
The Bears’ line could well be one of the top ones in the NFC, but once again, this is only the preseason.
How long Orlando Pace will hold up given his recent injury history is anybody’s guess.
This is practically Chris Williams’ rookie season as he didn’t play until the end of last season.
Really, the only constant on the line is Olin Kreutz.
That said, there’s no reason to call this O-line top-notch yet.
When the games count, we’ll see what it’s really made of.
After all, Jay Cutler can’t be the QB Bears fans are hoping to get if the line doesn’t do its job.
