It appears as if we are inching closer to the Chicago Bears’ offensive line playing at full strength.
Lucas Patrick, who has been in a right guard time share with Teven Jenkins the first two weeks of the season, was seen snapping during Wednesday’s practice. NBC Sports Chicago’s Alex Shapiro has the clip:
The video is all of six seconds. But what an important six seconds it is for Patrick and the Bears.
In case you forgot, Patrick was signed early in the offseason in an attempt to beef up the offensive line’s interior trio, but has been unable to play center — the position he was brought into play in the first place — since.
During training camp in late July, Patrick left practice with an injury that turned out needing surgical repair. It was a bummer to see Patrick go down early in camp. Especially since it was sounding like he and quarterback Justin Fields were really hitting it off. For whatever it’s worth, Patrick’s absence allowed for offensive line developments elsewhere. And that’s not inconsequential. But not having their top center option was a suboptimal outcome for the Bears. But perhaps we’re closer to the end of that stretch right now.
A healthy, snapping Patrick could equate to a whole new line for the Bears — one with Teven Jenkins getting a full snap share at right guard. Jenkins is still a work in progress at the position. However, he remains the most athletically gifted interior lineman. And it would be nice to see him get a full slate of reps to see his development through to another level.
In the end, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. And I definitely don’t want to do it based on a six-second video snippet. But the mere existence of the Bears line possibly being at full strength is encouraging. I needed that bit of good news this afternoon.