2012 Bears Position Reviews: The Offensive Line

How hard is it to fix an offensive line? I ask this not in a sarcastic way, like "Jesus, how dumb are you people to not have fixed this yet?" but legitimately. The Bears problems on the offensive line go back many years, ever since the 2001 Bears were one of the league's best, and yet oldest, groups. Angelo, in his first go round at running a draft, took Marc Colombo in the first round in order to provide youthful talent to the unit. Colombo, to Angelo's credit, was a solid left tackle for several years...for the Cowboys, after he lost nearly all three years of his rookie contract with the Bears to a devastating knee injury.

The Colombo experience seemed to sour Angelo on investing premium draft picks on offensive linemen, and from 2003-2010 he drafted just one offensive lineman, Chris Williams, above the fourth round (in that time he spent one fourth round pick on Josh Beekman, and spent six seventh round and one sixth round pick on various projects, with only two middling "successes" in Lance Louis and J'Marcus Webb) before public fury forced his hand on picking Gabe Carimi.

With such a low investment of draft resources on the unit, Angelo had to find his answers in free agency. In a lot of ways, his rise and fall as a general manager had more to do with his declining success at signing free agent offensive linemen than his much-maligned misses on high draft picks. After Angelo completely overhauled the line in 2004-2005 with the additions of John Tait, Ruben Brown, Fred Miller, and Roberto Garza (and you can say what you want about Angelo or about Brown, Miller, and Garza's performance in their later years, these were great pickups), the Bears had a very effective run and pass-blocking unit that played a major part in the team's 2006 title run by clearing the way for Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson. 

Unfortunately, if you are forced to rely on highly-paid free agent offensive linemen and you don't invest in providing depth behind them with valuable draft picks, you're in for a bad time once those veterans age out of effectiveness. In 2007 Miller and Brown utterly collapsed, and Olin Kreutz began his slow decline as well. Tait retired after 2008, leaving the Bears with a gap at left tackle they've spent four years struggling to fill.

As we know, Jerry whiffed with Chris Williams and later Gabe Carimi, leaving the success of the line again dependent on low-round projects and free agents. Jerry failed to duplicate his earlier success in this department, throwing away millions on has-beens like Orlando Paces and oh-no-fucking-way-will-he-ever-bes like Frank Omiyale. The result was a line that's ranked 31st, 32nd, and 30th overall in the last three years according to Pro Football Focus. Some will give Angelo credit for "getting good value" in finding seventh rounders like Louis and Webb who developed into passable starters, but this team suffered greatly as those two took their lumps, and the other three spots around them still sucked this year. Not to mention the fact that Webb didn't show enough even in his best year to stave off getting replaced on the blind side and Louis left in free agency.

So what does it take to fix this mess? Money, in the form of contracts handed out to Bushrod and Slauson, who are both on the right side of thirty and have plenty of proven experience, which wasn't the case for the worn-out Pace or the unproven Omiyale. It's also going to take a willingness to continually invest at least second day draft picks in the position on a continual basis, whether the team feels confident in their current batch of guys or not. Experience has shown that injury, inconsistency, and age will strike at any time. I still think they'd be best served, even with Bushrod and Slauson on board, to take an interior lineman in round one.

Now that I've spent six paragraphs without reviewing a single player, I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet:

Tackles:

#73 J'Marcus Webb: 16 games, 16 games started, 7 sacks allowed. 

I really don't mean to sell J'Marcus short. He made huge strides last season, and he's still young and talented enough to be a good tackle. I'm glad that Phil Emery understands that potential can only buy you so much time, and that the team is still better served throwing a proven, reliable left tackle on Jay's blindside and letting Webb have the chance to take his talent and his developing skills as a run blocker over to the right side, where his still-too-frequent mental lapses in pass protection will hopefully be less devastating. If not? Too bad. I doubt anyone will shed a tear and say the Bears didn't do everything they could for J'Marcus.

#72 Gabe Carimi: 16 games, 14 games started, 6.5 sacks allowed.

To be clear, Gabe doesn't necessarily have to be the next Chris Williams. He's an absolutely elite run-blocker, ranking 9th among all offensive tackles in the NFL according to PFF. There's reason to believe he can still be a productive player inside at guard (where his +4.2 rating in four games would have made him a top 15 guard in the NFL if he managed to do it for a full season), or even at tackle if he can find a way to be something less than a complete waste of space in pass-blocking. There are those who believe his recovery from the knee injury wasn't complete, and that the resulting lack of speed and agility crippled him in pass-blocking. I hope they're right. It would be a terrible waste if he can't become a valuable contributor somewhere, but I also hope the Bears aren't banking on him starting. As of right now I'm not really sold on a competition between Carimi and James Brown at guard being a good thing. The team needs to add one more guard in the draft so the team isn't forced to rely on either of those two panning out as a quality starter.

#79 Jon Scott: 12 games, 7 games started, 1 sack allowed.

Scott is about the very definition of a swing tackle. He can play left or right tackle and he won't get utterly embarrassed in pass protection. He'll give up hurries and hits but not necessarily sacks. He also gets zero push in the run game. He was an adequate band-aid last year, and I'm not upset that the Bears re-signed him, so long as they don't start him for any reason other than injury. 

#74 Chris Williams: 3 games, 0 games started, 1 sack allowed.

He was bad, and it's over. I've wasted too many lines on him already. Sigh.

Guards:

#60 Lance Louis: 11 games, 11 games started, 2.5 sacks allowed.

Lance Louis is a very good pass-protecting guard. He's also a very bad run-blocking guard. On the Bears offense, you'll take the good pass-blocking every time. If Lance had never gotten hurt, I think he'd have gotten himself an extension and would still be a Bear. With the injury, however, he was never going to get what he wanted from the team. In the end Phil managed to grab a player of similar age with more experience, who is an even better pass blocker, and is a slightly less-bad run-blocker to replace Lance, one who isn't coming off a knee injury (and doesn't have a history of missing games with injury every year of his career, as Lance has). I kind of love you, Phil Emery. I wish Lance well in Miami, though.

#67 Chris Spencer: 10 games, 5 games started, 1.5 sacks allowed.

After a very good 2011 that led both the Bears and myself to think he was somehow just a guy who found his untapped potential after six season, Spencer regressed last year and lost his job early, and never really re-claimed it despite numerous opportunities. While he allowed just one sack, he allowed frequent hits, hurries, and disruptions, and his shoddy run-blocking performance was more in line with the rest of his career than his 2011 anomaly. No one will shed tears over his departure.

#62 Chilo Rachal: 9 games, 8 games started, 2.0 sacks allowed.

I was pretty enthused about the Chilo Rachal signing. He was always a dominant run-blocker in San Francisco, grading out as the top run-blocking guard in all of football in 2010 according to PFF, and his mental lapses in pass protection were often overrated by 49ers fans. In Chicago, however, he was an unmitigated disaster. He was actually worse as a run-blocker than Spencer, his mental-lapses in pass protection became complete systemic collapses, and he committed seven goddamn penalties in just eight starts, and Mike Tice fucking complemented him on his personal foul because he gave the team "an edge." Just not, like, an edge in competition against the opposing defense. He quit in a bitch fit after the 49ers game and will probably never take a snap in the NFL again.

#78 James Brown: 5 games, 3 games started, 3.0 sacks allowed.

*Don't Make James Brown Joke* *Don't Make James Brown Joke*...James Brown may have soul, but as a guard in 2012, he was super bad. Goddammit. Actually, after a horrible debut, Brown was somewhat less than awful in his last two starts, but there's nothing to give any evidence that he's got true potential. Again, I hope Emery has a plan to draft one more guard, because a James Brown/Carimi competition at guard could just be two wrongs failing to make a right.

#70 Edwin Williams: 6 games, 2 games started, 0.0 sacks allowed.

Edwin Williams has allowed just 1 sack in 14 career starts at guard. The reason he hasn't started every single game possible for the Bears is because he doesn't do much else besides provide adequate pass protection. He's not a dominant pass-blocker, as he allows plenty of pressure whether it gets home or not, and he's never been much of anything in the run game. This is why many people think his future is inside at center, where he played in college, and I'd certainly like to see him get a shot, since his lack of power and his smaller frame would be more suited in that role. Also because Roberto Garza is shitty.

#63 Roberto Garza: 16 games, 16 games started, 5.0 sacks allowed.

No offense, Roberto. You seem like a nice guy, and for a long stretch there you were a very, very good guard. That stretch ended in 2008. Since then you were a mediocre guard for two years, and a mediocre center for a year after that. Jerry Angelo gave you a f*&king contract extension for this. Now you're just plain bad. Garza allowed five sacks, a fairly high total for a center, and was still somehow a better pass blocker than a run blocker, mostly because he was utterly useless in that department. He can still get out there on pulls and screens, but he's otherwise beaten up and tossed in the trash by any half-decent nose guard. He also committed four false starts this year. My God. Roberto Garza is Olin Kreutz. We just can't get rid of that sonofabitch.

That's all for now. After 44 sacks allowed last year, and 149 allowed since 2010, the Bears have finally made it a real priority to upgrade this dumpster fire of a unit. Marc Trestman's scheme will certainly help, but we've heard that story before. The important thing is that Emery has shown a willingness to spend money on protecting his quarterback, and I hope he's willing to invest draft picks on it as well. We can only hope Bushrod, Slauson, and the hopeful rookie-to-be-named-later can lead to the first truly productive offensive line the Bears have had since Superbowl 41.

2011 Bears Position Reviews: The Offensive Line

It's tough to be a Bears offensive lineman. It really is. Although the sack total (49) certainly makes it seem that not much changed between last year and 2010 (56), the fact is the Bears offensive line made some positive strides last year. As I mentioned before, it's worth noting that the Bears allowed 23 sacks in 10 games with Cutler, and just 5 in the last 5 games, vs. 26 in 6 games of Hanie/McCown. It's also worth noting that the guy who was supposed to be the key to the line's resurgence, Gabe Carimi, played less than two full games, and that Chris Williams, Chris Spencer, and Lance Louis all suffered from injuries at some point throughout the season. The outstanding rushing totals: 2015 yds, 4.4 ypc, 10 TDs are evidence of the fact that they have the bulk necessary to be successful in that department and pave the way for big years for Forte and Bush next year. Finally, no one can overstate just how much of an effect Mike Martz had on the sack totals, since there's only been two seasons in his entire career as an offensive coordinator or head coach when his team allowed less than 40 sacks.

Excuses aside, however, no one is going to pretend that this offensive line doesn't need to improve. The fact is, however, that it's hard to say the answer is to bring in new players, when they have some promising pieces that just need to stay healthy, and some guys who have enough talent that they can't be abandoned yet.

#73 J'Marcus Webb: 16 games, 16 games started, 14 sacks allowed, 8 false starts, 4 holds.
The numbers are godawful. There's no way to hide that. It's sad to see how much of a beating J'Marcus has taken all offseason, because he really isn't as bad as the numbers say he is. He's still a very athletic guy with prototypical left tackle size. Up until Cutler went down, he actually had a Positive rating from Pro Football Focus, and he maintained a positive rating all year long in run blocking, where he's an absolute mauler. His numbers absolutely tanked due to three bad games: week 5, in Detroit, where he false started all over the damn place and had a terrible time with Cliff Avril, and weeks 13 and 14, when Kansas City's stout front seven and the Von Miller/Elvis Dumervil combo, combined with Caleb Hanie's awful pocket presence, led to 11 total sacks in two games (not all on Webb). Again though, it's worth noting that four of the seven sacks in the Kansas City game came on seven step drops, as did several in the Denver game. Although the numbers are what they are, I still don't think there's any reason to give up on J'Marcus. Could they find competition for him? Absolutely, and they should also consider flipping Carimi and Webb if need be, but I think J'Marcus will surprise in 2012. I really do.

The one thing that is entirely on J'Marcus, however, is the penalties, and there's just no excuse for that many. If he can cut those in half, that alone would send his ratings up.

#74 Chris Williams: 9 games, 9 games started, 1 sack allowed, 2 false start, 0 holds.
Chris Williams is a hard luck player if I've ever seen one. For one, it's not his fault that Jerry didn't know about his back injury. For another, I've always felt it was unfair of the team to boot him inside after less than 2 full starts at left tackle in 2010. It's hard to shed a bust label with that little playing time. That said, the move was working out for Chris, as he played very well down the stretch in 2010 and was off to a stellar start in 2011. He allowed just one sack, but his real strength was run blocking, and his ability to swing out was a major factor in Forte's success in the first half. It's no coincidence that Forte started to struggle after Williams went down. There's a possibility the Bears may give Chris another shot at tackle this year if Webb falters, but I think the best thing for the team would be to try and get a full year of continuity out of Webb and Williams together on the left side.

#63 Roberto Garza: 16 games, 16 games started, 1 sack allowed, 0 false starts, 1 hold.
I love being right. It's like a goddamn addiction, and frankly, I'm going to just say that when it comes to the great Garza/Kreutz debate of 2011, I WAS RIGHT. Garza was solid in his first year as a full time center, a vast improvement over Kreutz in pass blocking and a mild improvement in run blocking. He was also capable of snapping in the shotgun, didn't false start, and also didn't retire less than halfway into the season. That's really all I wanted. Thanks, Roberto. I'd say something about his age, but I'm not terribly worried. If Garza declines, they have Spencer on board to take over.

#60 Lance Louis: 14 games, 13 games started, 10 sacks allowed, 3 starts, 0 hold.
Lance's numbers also have to be taken with a grain of salt, since he was playing out of position for most of the year. Even then, however, his numbers were much better before Cutler went down. Louis, like Webb, earned his poor rating mostly through total breakdowns in week 13 and 14, and was a plus run blocker and okay pass protector the rest of the year. A move back in side next year will help. Louis was the best Bears lineman when he was healthy in 2010, and he's still a serviceable guy at guard. I just hope not to see him at right tackle again.

#72 Gabe Carimi: 2 games, 2 games started, 1 sack allowed, 0 false starts, 0 holds.
His knee is always going to scare us, but you'll never find an offensive lineman without knee concerns. He held his own quite well in the preseason and in a tough matchup against John Abraham in the season opener. He may get an opportunity on the left side next year, but he's still got the potential to be a Pro Bowl right tackle. Just stay healthy, Gabe.

#67 Chris Spencer: 15 games, 14 games started, 1 sack allowed, 3 false starts, 1 hold.
Chris was a surprisingly good find last year. Despite the fact that he started 14 games st guard, not his natural position of center, he was the most effective starter the Bears had over the course of the season. He was a solid run blocker, a serviceable pass protector, and he was very rarely penalized. Kudos to Jerry Angelo for one of his last good signings. Even if he doesn't start next year, he's a quality backup along any of the three interior line positions. That's a rarity in the recent history of Bears football.

#70 Edwin Williams: 15 games, 7 games started, 0 sacks allowed, 1 false start, 0 hold.
Edwin Williams, according to Pro Football Focus, was the highest rated player the Bears had on the line all season. It's interesting to note that he's started 10 games over the last two years and allowed just one sack. While he's not a great run blocker (not a terrible one either) he's the only guard the Bears have that's really a good, not just serviceable, pass blocker. Angelo and Tice should get some credit for picking him off of waivers in 2010, as he's a quality back up at the least.

#68 Frank Omiyale: 16 games, 3 games started, 4 sacks allowed, 7 false starts, 0 holds.
You can say all you want about J'Marcus Webb's 14 sacks allowed, at least he was better than Frank could have ever been, considering Frank's 4 sacks and 7 penalties in THREE FUCKING STARTS projects to 21 sacks and 37 penalties over the course of a full season. My God. It's hard to imagine a more worthless player than Frank, or one that got more undeserved chances to start. He was just plain awful in every way possible, and I cannot express the joy in my heart upon hearing that Emery cut the bastard. I hope Carpenter and Okung tear their everything next year and Seattle has to endure 16 games of Frank. I want someone else to know my suffering. Seriously, fuck you, Frank Omiyale.

That's it for now. It'll be really interesting to see how the Bears starting five shakes out next year, because there's a lot of quality depth on the interior in the Williamses, Spencer, Louis, and Garza. If Carimi can stay healthy, the only real question mark is left tackle, and I assume we'll see a competition between Chris Williams, J'Marcus Webb, and a potential rookie to be named later. The fact is, the silver lining in the disaster that was the injury plagued line last year was that many guys got a chance to play, and several of them played well. Other than Garza, there's still youth on their side, as every other lineman on the roster is still south of 30. I know I said this before last season (and it was looking like I was right ten games in), but the Bears really can put together a good offensive line with the talent they have. It's going to take the right combination of health, experience, and playcalling, but they're capable of big things. Sometimes the numbers really don't tell the whole story.