Getty Bears head coach Matt Eberflus.
The Chicago Bears don’t just have a problem with the offensive line — they have several crises scattered all across the unit.
Chief among those, however, may be the situation at right guard concerning Nate Davis. Davis was bad in his first year with the Bears in 2022 after signing a three-year contract worth a total of $30 million. He’s been worse through two games this season.
And worst of all, the Bears coaching staff is frustrated with a lack of practice effort and intensity from one of their starters.
The easy question is why not replace Davis then? But it’s not so simple without a clearly superior option to which to turn. Ryan Bates, who Chicago acquired from the Buffalo Bills for a fifth-round pick this offseason, has experience at right guard but is currently out with injury.
However, head coach Matt Eberflus on Friday floated the name of a backup lineman who the team intends to rotate in with Davis — at least in practice, if not in games starting immediately.
“[Eberflus] says that Matt Pryor ‘has really improved,'” CHGO Bears reported via an X post. “[Eberflus] likes his work ethic and energy. Excited to see Pryor perhaps ‘work in there with [Davis].'”
Aaron Leming of 247 Sports and SB Nation reposted those comments with a prediction that the Bears will shelve Davis as soon as possible by proclaiming that they already would have done so were Bates healthy.
“The #Bears very clearly do not [want] Nate Davis starting long-term,” Leming wrote. “Had Bates not been injured, [Davis] would already be on the bench.”
Issues Between Bears, Nate Davis Stretch Back to Preseason
GettyOffensive lineman Nate Davis of the Chicago Bears.
The issues between Chicago and its starting right guard began weeks ago.
Davis missed significant time during the preseason with a soft-tissue injury. However, comments from Eberflus about Davis over that stretch were eye-opening.
“If a person’s out for an extended period of time and the player that’s in that position is playing very well — at a starter level, and doing a good job there — then you create competition,” Eberflus told reporters on August 6. “People say you can’t lose a job because of an injury. I don’t think that’s true. … That’s not just at [right] guard. That’s at all positions.”
Bears Offensive Line in Bottom Half of NFL Through 2 Games
GettyOffensive lineman Nate Davis of the Chicago Bears (left) celebrates a play with former quarterback Justin Fields (right).
Davis is a concern, but far from the only problem on the Bears offensive line.
Pro Football Focus (PFF) ranks Davis 46th out of 65 offensive guards in the NFL who have played enough snaps to qualify at the position through two games.
The only two starters on the line who are above-average based on PFF rankings are left guard Teven Jenkins and center Coleman Shelton. However, both have been well below-average pass blockers this season along with all of their teammates — save for left tackle Braxton Jones who has been good, not great, at keeping quarterback Caleb Williams upright.
Zoltán Buday of PFF ranks the Chicago offensive line 19th in the league as a whole heading into Week 3.
“The Bears offensive line followed up one of its best games in recent seasons by really struggling in primetime against the Texans,” Buday wrote. “The unit allowed 17 pressures — tied for the most in Week 2 — and four sacks, leading to the fourth-lowest PFF pass-blocking efficiency score of the week.”
