Chicago Bears' offensive line problems skyrocket

Wow, talk about not being able to tell the players without your scorecard.

If the Bears game with the Tennessee Titans scheduled for this Sunday had been Wednesday, the Bears' starting offensive line would have been Charles Leno, Arlington Hambright, Alex Bars, Rashaad Coward and Lachavious Simmons - and that would have left no big uglies on the bench.

So we assume they also would have to activate at least two of guard Aaron Neary, center/guard Dieter Eiselen or tackle Badara Traore off the practice squad.

When you consider that Hambright and Simmons have never taken an NFL snap. ... That Bars, as deeply as I can research, never took a snap at center at Notre Dame, and we know he hasn't for the Bears. ... And that the Rashaad Coward right guard experiment already has been deemed a failure, well, it's fair to say head coach Matt Nagy and offensive line coach Juan Castillo have a few things to figure out.

The problems, of course, are starting left guard James Daniels is done for the season. Bars was supposed to be his backup. Center Cody Whitehair left the Los Angeles Rams game with a calf injury and hasn't practiced or played since. Daniels was his backup.

Sam Mustipher, elevated from the practice squad just two weeks ago as the No. 3 center, apparently injured a knee Sunday against the New Orleans Saints and was unable to practice Wednesday.

Right guard Germain Ifedi was placed on the COVID-19 reserve list Tuesday after significant exposure to swing tackle Jason Spriggs. After filling in for starting right tackle Bobby Massie on Sunday, Spriggs tested positive for the virus and also was placed on the reserve list Tuesday. And Massie has been exiled to injured reserve with the knee injury he suffered against the Saints.

Have you got all that?

It is possible if Ifedi continues to test negative he could be available for the Titans, and it is too early to speculate on Mustipher or Whitehair's availability, although Whitehair feels like a real longshot.

As of Wednesday night, best case for Sunday appeared to be Leno, Bars/Hambright, Mustipher/Bars, Ifedi and Coward at right tackle, which is where the Bears originally hoped to put him after moving him from the other side of the ball.

What types of challenges does all this bring Nagy and Castillo?

For starters, Nagy said, "It can be challenging rep-wise, but it's exciting in other ways in just guys getting opportunities. One of the things that you have to do when you're game planning is you've got to try to forecast where guys will be at.

"You kind of have to have backup plans, so we try to as we're creating a game plan, we try to think of all the situations and then schematically you have to be able to adjust. So if you have who you think you may have, then you go ahead and you plan for that schematically, the things you think are the strengths of those particular players.

"And if it's different or if it's your backup plan or what you think could happen, quote unquote worst-case scenario, by whoever is there playing, then it's our job as coaches to make sure schematically we are putting our offense in the best position possible by doing what we see is best against the defense we're playing."

For his part, quarterback Nick Foles is taking the "what, me worry" approach.

"We've got to go play the game," Foles said. "We'll play aggressive, play attacking, do what we have to do to win the game as a team, but the mindset stays the same and, you know, we continue to build trust with one another."

One thing Nagy is ruling out is asking guys like Whitehair and Mustipher to play hurt.

"I think where you have to be careful is this," Nagy said, "if you have an injury that's going to affect the way you play and you try to tough it out, that's not good for our team."

Silver linings are hard to find here, but if this had to happen, Tennessee's defense has been its Achilles' heel, 22nd vs. the run, 31st in sack percentage and dead last in the league getting third-down stops. So there's that.

It doesn't hurt, but my guess is it won't help Nagy's sleep habits all that much this week either.