People can't help but wonder if the Chicago Bears can manage the challenge in front of them this off-season. Their offensive line just gave up 68 sacks in 2024, a franchise record. Not all of it came from dismal play. Some of it was injuries and protecting a young quarterback who sometimes tends to hold the ball too long. However, it was beyond evident that this group was undermanned. They need a serious infusion of talent. The trouble is one could argue they need four new starters. Finding that many in one spring can be a daunting task.
However, this isn't uncharted territory for the Bears. They've embarked on a similar mission before and ended up nailing it. In 2012, the offensive line allowed 44 sacks. While that may not sound egregious, remember they only threw the ball 485 times. They had the 10th-highest rushing attempts in the league and still gave up that many. It was painfully obvious they needed to fix the blocking in the 2013 off-season. GM Phil Emery, to his credit, delivered a tremendous showing.
It started with a pair of big additions in free agency. First came former Pro Bowl left tackle Jermon Bushrod, followed by underrated veteran guard Matt Slauson. Emery then punctuated everything by taking a talented kid from Oregon in the 1st round named Kyle Long. Those three, along with surprising 5th round pick Jordan Mills, turned everything around that season with just 30 sacks allowed.
The Chicago Bears can pull off an encore.
They have the resources to make it happen. In fact, GM Ryan Poles has more to work with than Emery did 12 years ago. The former GM nabbed Long with the 20th overall pick. Chicago picks 10th in this upcoming draft. They also have upwards of $70 million in cap space. That means they can go hard on the veteran market if they wish. It comes down to whether Poles and head coach Ben Johnson can identify good players. That hasn't always been the case with this regime in the past.
Darnell Wright is developing into a quality right tackle. Everybody else has largely disappointed. Braxton Jones has outperformed his 5th round pick status from 2022, but no one would confuse him for an upper-echelon blocker. Kiran Amegadjie, their 3rd round pick from last year, is a complete unknown after recovering from an injury that ended his final college season. The Chicago Bears have money. They have four picks in the first three rounds of the draft. Everything is in place to duplicate what happened in 2013.
