What happens with Bears' interior depends on tackle positions
Bears general manager Ryan Poles has experience playing on the offensive line. He understands the importance of winning in the trenches.
He was clear about his intentions for his team.
"It starts with the foundation of the offensive line and establishing that run game, which then leads to explosive plays," Poles said at his introductory news conference in January. "We have to continue to work on that."
For the 2021 Bears, the interior offensive line was maybe the most consistent group of any position groups on the offense. But that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.
Positives: Three Bears played 100% of offensive snaps in the 2021 season: Left guard Cody Whitehair, center Sam Mustipher and right guard James Daniels. While three quarterbacks started games and multiple tackles were needed to start on the outside, the interior of the offensive line consistently showed up healthy.
Whitehair has rarely missed a snap since joining the Bears in 2016. It was good to see Daniels have a healthy season after missing half the 2020 season with a pectoral injury. Mustipher has not missed a single snap at center when the offense is on the field since Week 10 of 2020.
In the NFL, being healthy is half the battle. That doesn't mean these three provide an elite interior offensive line. But if the Bears can add consistency to the tackle position, they might have the makings of a solid offensive line. The deficiencies at tackle overshadowed the consistency on the interior.
Negatives: The weak link here is at center. Mustipher is not a bad NFL center, he is merely average. Consider a chart tweeted by ESPN analytics writer Seth Walder in November measuring run block win rate vs. pass block win rate: Mustipher was smack dab in the middle. Granted, this accounted for only the first half of the 2021 season, but the point is Mustipher is the definition of an average NFL center (at least as far as analytics).
If Poles is serious about upgrading the offensive line, he has to take a long look at center. That doesn't necessarily mean moving on from Mustipher this offseason, but it could. The Bears have exclusive rights to re-sign Mustipher. They should do it whether he's their starter or not. Remember, he's young, relatively inexperienced and the organization has invested a lot of time in helping him improve.
With issues elsewhere, signing a top-tier center most likely isn't going to be a top priority. And, Walder's chart indicates, there's plenty of teams that would love to have a league-average center.
Defining moments: The Bears' five best rushing performances all came in October. They rushed for 140 yards or more in all five games that month. Unfortunately, the team went 2-3 during that stretch. The Bears relied heavily on the run game with rookie quarterback Justin Fields taking over the starting job. Outside of a bad loss at Tampa Bay, the Bears were in all five of those games.
Contract status: Daniels is a free agent in March. Whitehair is under contract for three more seasons. Mustipher is an exclusive rights free agent, so the Bears are the only team he can negotiate with. Backups Dieter Eiselen and Willie Wright signed futures contracts.
Re-signing Daniels should be a priority for the Bears. The market for experienced guards is relatively small this offseason, and Daniels is among the top handful available.
Grade: B-. Again, good not great. There's always room for improvement, but the trio of Whitehair, Mustipher and Daniels have earned a good grade for at least staying healthy and consistent throughout 2021. None of the three was a Top-10 performer at his position, according to ESPN's win rate metrics.
The plan: There's two courses of action. First, the Bears could move ahead with Teven Jenkins and Larry Borom as the starting tackles, make re-signing Daniels a priority, and keep the status quo with the interior. That's banking an awful lot on last year's rookies showing improvement, particularly Jenkins, who saw little game action in 2021.
Second, they could sign a free agent tackle to play the left side, move Jenkins to right tackle, bump Borom inside to guard and move ahead with Whitehair at the other guard spot and either Mustipher or Daniels (if he's re-signed) at center. Given the emphasis Poles is putting on having depth on the line, this feels like a distinct possibility. Daniels was a center coming out of Iowa and might benefit from a move back to the middle.