Bears’ O-line still working to get better

The concern early in the season was that the Bears’ offensive line wasn’t good enough to prevent quarterback Jay Cutler’s early demise.

Now, with the O-line coming off its best performance of the season in the Monday night victory at Philadelphia, offensive line coach Mike Tice has a very different concern.

“They have certainly not arrived,” Tice said. “And you always have that fear as a coach that, after a good game and with you guys all kissing their butts right now, that they start thinking they’re good.

“Well, they’re not good.”

Against the Eagles, the Bears did not allow a single sack for the first time in two seasons, and the line also paved the way for Matt Forte’s 133 rushing yards.

Better? Yes, but not quite there yet.

“They had a solid game,” Tice said of the Eagles victory. “(But) they’ve got a long way to go, because I could sit here right now and give you 10 things that each player did poorly in the game and has to get better at.”

As recently as the Week 5 loss at Detroit, Cutler was sacked three times and chased around Ford Field much of the night, although he still completed 28 of 38 passes for 249 yards.

The Bears had 9 false-start penalties, including 6 by the offensive line. Sunday at Soldier Field, the line can turn the tables on the Lions and show how much it has improved.

Fortunately for Cutler and Forte and anyone else running the ball or catching it, Tice believes he has a group that will work to get better and still has much room for growth.

Left tackle J’Marcus Webb is in his second season, right tackle Lance Louis is in his third, and left guard Chris Williams is in his fourth.

Rookie Gabe Carimi is out for at least another couple of weeks following a knee scope, but he eventually might be the best of the bunch.

“The kids have been working really hard,” Tice said. “They’ve bought into coaching. They’ve bought into hard coaching. They’re willing to take criticism and make corrections.

“They work extremely hard in practice, so the residual of all that is improvement, and that’s what they’re doing. They’re getting better.”

Tice will gladly provide the hard coaching and the criticism, but he also will be a teacher and a nurturer.

Consider his evaluation of left guard Williams.

“I felt like going into last week’s game, he was having a solid year,” Tice said. “But last week it wasn’t his best game. I felt there were some things technique wise he could have done better.

“But he’s had a solid season, at times very good. He’s very smart, so he’s not going to get you beat with mental errors. He has probably the lowest amount of mental errors of any player I’ve ever coached.”

That says a lot, considering Tice, who played 14 NFL seasons as a tight end, is in his 15th year as an NFL coach, including five as the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach.

Tice can be a patient man — to a point.

“I’ve tried to tell you guys all along that I thought we were eight deep,” he said. “You have to have a vision of where guys can get to.

“Fortunately for me, I’ve been doing it for 30 years in the league, and I’ve seen good players, so I think I know what good players look like.

“Sometimes we don’t want to believe that, and we want to have players play good right now. But the problem is, they can’t play good right now. They have to develop.”

The line has allowed a total of 3 sacks in the past three games after giving 18 in the first five. Today marks the fourth straight game in which the Bears have started the same player at all five O-line positions.

“We’re playing better as a unit right now, better than we played in Detroit,” Tice said. “That just comes with the guys playing together every week.”

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