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This was actually a question asked of Brad Biggs in his "Ask a Reporter" feature in the Trib.

"Where can the Bears find upgrades at OT and OG?. The OLine was a mess."

While they could always have done a bit better in run blocking I can't blame them for a scheme change that made Howard and Cohen less effective. That's on Nagy. Plus we were missing Kyle Long much of the year. We allowed just 33 sacks/8th best and the running game did improve greatly later in the year when we returned to more zone blocking.

Two guys made the Pro Bowl, Long may also have had he not been injured, and in any other year Daniels would have made the All Rookie team but for also being in the same draft class with 3 other OGs who were drafted before him who were named All Rookie. He played very well for a 21 year old rookie. We also finished an unexpected 12-4.

So other than adding some youth and depth via the draft and deciding whether or not to make an honest effort at keeping Massie for another couple of years who needs upgrading?

For the first time in two years Long won't be having offseason surgery and will have plenty of time to shake off his last injury and get back in top football shape. Leno is a lock at LT and Whitehair seems to have fixed his earlier issues with his snaps and remains one of the best young OCs in the NFL. Daniels is a budding Pro Bowler.

Which team was this guy watching he actually thought was the Bears?

Sports fans, on the whole, are incredibly stupid.

wab wrote:Sports fans, on the whole, are incredibly stupid.

As are human beings.

"A mess" is an exaggeration, but it isn't all that rosy, either.

Bears had only 4 teams in the league below them in ypc.
And if you take out Mitch's atypical QB contribution to the run game, that drops to 0.

Massie's a free agent who may be too expensive and Long's been seriously broken for 3 straight seasons. How many OLmen can you name who've come back from that to play at a high level and be on the field regularly?

UOK wrote:

wab wrote:Sports fans, on the whole, are incredibly stupid.

As are human beings.

exactly

pick up any newspaper from any city on a given day and easily find proof the stupid is not limited to the sports pages/fans

Moriarty wrote:"A mess" is an exaggeration, but it isn't all that rosy, either.

Bears had only 4 teams in the league below them in ypc.
And if you take out Mitch's atypical QB contribution to the run game, that drops to 0.

Massie's a free agent who may be too expensive and Long's been seriously broken for 3 straight seasons. How many OLmen can you name who've come back from that to play at a high level and be on the field regularly?

I think we need to look past that. Over the last five games when the Bears went back to more of their former zone scheme Howard's ypc was back up to his more typical 4.5 ypc and he looked more like he did in 2016 and 2017. I believe Long's return also helped, just not soon enough. Despite that it wouldn't shock me to see Howard traded for a 2nd day pick and Pace/Nagy looking for a RB who fits their needs a bit better.

I don't count on Massie returning or at least not until we hear some news of negotiations and an offer being made so I don't believe any decision has been made on him yet. I believe that depends on two factors; 1) Can we replace him with another vet UFA for less and get equal performance, or 2) Could Coward or a mid-round draftee take his place.

As for long I'm willing to bet my left nut he'll be back whether he restructures his deal or not. It's pretty unlikely Pace will want to recast the entire right side of his OL if he does lose Massie. Long deserves another full offseason to condition again something he couldn't do following his 2018 injury. It's also not like he's injury prone since in both cases his own teammates falling on him caused his leg injuries. He's also had his shoulder repaired so that's no longer an offseason issue. IMHO you can't discount his leadership either even if he's no longer an All Pro level OG.