BOURBONNAIS, IL- The offensive line is clearly the biggest question mark heading into the season for the 2012 Chicago Bears.
J’Marcus Webb has been inconsistent at the blind side since the Bears drafted him in 2010.
He lacks the maturity and the meanness that offensive coordinator Mike Tice generally looks for.
Chris Williams on the other hand was a mainstay on the offensive line a season ago until he suffered a season-ending injury in Week 10 and is expected to get the majority of the reps with the first team offense this Saturday.
Tice addressed the media today and denied reports that he is sending J’Marcus Webb a message by giving Williams another look with the first team:
“I know some people have said I’m sending a message to J’Marcus. You have to understand how I work: There’s no message being sent to J’Marcus.”
The 6’6″ Williams started all nine games at left guard last season, but has the ability to play any position on the offensive line.
If he doesn’t earn the job over Webb, the Bears should be comfortable putting him anywhere on the line.
Bears QB Jay Cutler was sacked 23 times in the 10 games that he started in 2011. They may sound like a lot, but with the amount of passing plays called it made sense.
The offensive line is built for the run and Mike Tice knows that. The running game will be used first and it will certainly open things up for WR Brandon Marshall and company this season.
The running game struggled in the preseason opener and Tice addressed that with the media:
“I thought from Day 1 of minicamp and OTA days, we would be able to run the ball when we wanted to run the ball,” Tice said via Chicagotribune.com, “and we didn’t do a good job of running the football.”
From Week Six-Week 11 (five games) on Cutler was sacked only five times. The Bears won all of those games. Mike Tice helped modify the offense that Mike Martz once fantasized as a pass-first attack.
Both left tackle J’Marcus Webb and right guard Lance Louis had false starts in the preseason opener against Denver.
Getting the timing down could take a couple of games for certain players especially on the line.
It’s certainly not the Bears greatest strength, but its a position that overall will be fine.
They just need to tighten up some things during the rest of the preseason and get things going.
Chris Williams pushing J’Marcus Webb is the only thing driving Webb to succeed.
Tice isn’t stupid when it comes to putting Jay Cutler in the right position to succeed.
This team will only go as far as Jay Cutler goes. Keeping him upright will be the key.
From what we saw during that five game winning streak in 2011 this team has what it takes to be contenders.
Jake Perper is the owner and head writer for Bearsbacker.com. Follow him on Twitter, @Bearsbacker and on Facebook for up to the minute news about the Bears.
