It wasn’t pretty for the Chicago Bears offensive line on Sunday โ or their offense in general, for that matter. There most certainly are a lot of things that need cleaning up on that side of the ball, but at the same time, the offensive line was presented with a very tough Week 1 test.
The tandem of Jeffrey Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat inside was really – really – good, and they’ll give a lot of teams issues this year. That said, the Bears failed their first test, and they’ll have to learn from it in the coming weeks.
Before we get into the film, a reminder: Anyone breaking down film can take an educated guess at an assignment on a given play, but none of us can know with 100% certainty.
Bears OL Breakdown – Play #1
It wasnโt Tevin Jenkins best game, and here he gets torched in a one-one-one pass pro situation pic.twitter.com/ptZXqioM1o— Matthew Rooney (@mrooney23) September 10, 2024
This play is pretty straightforward, but it’s still worth highlighting. It’s a pretty standard 3/4 slide to the right. Teven Jenkins has T’Vondre Sweat all by himself (unless he somehow screams across the center’s face) and he just gets flat-out beat. He’s slightly off balance, caught leaning a little too far on his toes, and Sweat makes him pay with a slick swim move.
Losing one-on-one pass rush reps will happen. And I think T’Vondre Sweat will make a lot of people look bad at times this year. But for a veteran guard like Teven Jenkins looking to get paid, that’s just not a mistake you should make. Credit to him, he doesn’t really lose many pass rush reps the rest of the game, but that wasn’t the greatest start and put a massive DL in your rookie QB’s lap early in his first start.
Play #2
Nate Davis was very bad and deserved to be benched. Seemed downright lazy at times. pic.twitter.com/OnQjmJV7Ie
— Matthew Rooney (@mrooney23) September 10, 2024
It’s the first of a couple of Nate Davis miscues. The play is a play action selling outside zone to the left, and it’s a very long developing screen out to D’Andre Swift. On these types of plays, usually, the linemen are told to sell for a one or two-second count before releasing out into the flat.
Davis has no one in his immediate play-side gap, so he blocks down to try and sell outside zone. Coleman Shelton’s man, Keondre Coburn stays home instead of running with Shelton playside. Really, that’s someone Nate Davis needs to get a piece of. He’s still going to have to release out to the flat to help set up the screen, but at the same time, the way that play gets busted is with immediate “A” gap pressure. Davis doesn’t need to lock on for long, but it looks like he’s got to get a piece of Coburn there.
If Davis was in a full-on sprint for the flat, maybe you could convince me he didn’t have enough time to chip or get a piece of Coburn. But since it’s a slow-developing screen and he takes his time getting out in front of Swift, he’s got more than enough time to get a piece of Coburn and then release.
I don’t really like long-developing screens, as they can often confuse linemen as to how much time they actually have to get out in front as the lead blockers. But still, Davis just shouldn’t pass up a wrong-colored jersey that quickly into the play.
Play #3
Again, not Jenkins best game but also TโVondre Sweat was a monster pic.twitter.com/M5EfcGCU6V— Matthew Rooney (@mrooney23) September 10, 2024
Here is another example of Teven Jenkins just getting flat-out beat by T’Vondre Sweat. I’m not sure if he was expecting a hand from Coleman Shelton before he went up to the backer, but even if he was, you can’t approach that block like you’re getting any help. The whole line down blocks right with Darnell Wright pulling and kicking out the end.
That should be an easy down block and wash Sweat down the line of scrimmage, but he doesn’t gain nearly enough ground with his first step. He’s leaning too far forward, and Sweat is able to just throw him aside and completely blow up the play.
I’m not sure if the Bears were caught off guard by Sweat up front, but he made a really good NFL guard look pretty bad at some points on Sunday. It was a fantastic first NFL game for him.
Play #4
Coleman Shelton wasnโt great, he also wasnโt as bad as we originally thought. This looked bad in real time, but clearly he was tripped up by Jenkins pic.twitter.com/joaovWWcaP— Matthew Rooney (@mrooney23) September 10, 2024
Coleman Shelton, as mentioned, has been catching a lot of flak for his performance on Sunday. But while it was by no means great, I do think some of his worst plays on tape that went around social media on Sunday weren’t all his fault.
This one is a pretty prime example. In real time it looks like he just gets blown up by Ernest Jones IV blitzing up the middle, but his foot pretty clearly gets tangled up with Teven Jenkins’ foot. And it’s not Jenkins’ fault either, this will happen. Jenkins takes a good pass set, protects the inside from Sweat like you’re taught to do, and in the process, Shelton trips over that foot while getting ready to take on the blitz.
The fault here might be that Shleton and Jenkins’ splits are too tight, and if so Jenkins can bump out a touch. But that’s probably the biggest flaw of either of those two. I know that this clip had been making its rounds, and most had figured this out by now, but I wanted to at least give proper acknowledgment that while this looked bad for Shelton, there wasn’t a whole lot he could do.
Play #5
Another play that didnโt look great on tape for Shelton. Not the best look here, but also not entirely on him pic.twitter.com/jI0r3waNK7— Matthew Rooney (@mrooney23) September 10, 2024
This is another play that has made the rounds on social media since Sunday. I’ve watched this play so many times trying to diagnose whose fault this was, and you could probably make an argument for both Nate Davis and Coleman Shelton. However, we probably have to pin this one on Shelton.
First, Coleman Shelton technically does what you’re taught to do as an OL when you don’t have a man in pass pro, and that’s going to help someone out and hit a DL. He does do that here. The problem is when turning to go help the man Davis and Wright are occupied with, Shelton 1) probably turns his shoulders too early and 2) attacks when Harold Landry III is starting his stunt inside.
As for Nate Davis, I can’t fault him early on. Jeffrey Simmons doesn’t shoot to the outside toward Wright or anything like that, he just kind of attacks Davis’ outside shoulder. However, when Darnell Wright’s man drops (Landry) begins to stunt inside, he tries bumping Davis over but now Davis is a bit too buried in the block to move or get Simmons’ hands off him.
Nate Davis probably could have played this a little bit better and not been as turned outside by Simmons. But at the same time, Shelton can’t turn his shoulders that aggressively. And once he did, Shelton should have been able to see that Landry was making his way inside and stayed to pick that up. If you’re going to make a mistake on the OL, make sure you do so aggressively, but Shelton just has to see that stunt coming back inside, even if things are moving quickly.
Play #6
Weโll finish on a high note. Great job by Braxton Jones giving Jenkins a hand then getting up to second level. pic.twitter.com/MUJzv5x0Z6— Matthew Rooney (@mrooney23) September 10, 2024
OK, it’s been all bad up until this point so I wanted to highlight a good play here to close this one out. This is a pretty standard toss to the left, with outside zone/stretch blocking up front by the offensive line. Braxton Jones does his job perfectly in my opinion.
Jeffrey Simmons to his inside is not his responsibility. However, Simmons has been outstanding all day. Pre-snap, Jones can take a look at the front and realize that in all likelihood, the LB lined up just inside of Teven Jenkins is going to be his man on the second level. With that in mind, he knows he has a bit of time to make his way up to the second level.
Instead of rushing up there, Jones takes his time off the snap. He knows Jenkins has to reach block Simmons, who again is an outstanding player, so instead of just bolting play side immediately, he gives his right hand which helps allow Jenkins to take over the block, but he does so without burying himself into Simmons or even taking him off his own track.
After Jenkins takes the block over, Jones keeps climbing to the second level and is in a perfect position to take on the backer. He does just that, gets his head on the correct side of the block to prevent the LB from leaking over the top into the running lane, D’Andre Swift makes a man miss and now we have a big play and one that helped put the game on ice.
In Conclusion
The offensive line performance was far from pretty on Sunday. The Bears have their work cut out for them in cleaning things up before the matchup against Houston. However, that Jeffrey Simmons/T’Vondre Sweat combo inside is a very good one. The Bears OL got thrown into the fire early, and while they didn’t pass the test I would hope they can get better from it moving forward.
Ryan Bates did get a lot of time after Nate Davis got pulled, and it appears those two will be competing for the starting right guard spot next week. I believe that’s 100 percent the right call. If there’s a demand for it, I might be able to get to a Davis vs Bates film breakdown from Week 1, so if that’s something you’d like to see either mention it in the comments or let me know on X.
All in all, it wasn’t a good Week 1 performance. But the Bears won. If you can pick up wins while not playing your best, that’s not a bad thing in this league. However, those issues need to be cleaned up and fast. A lot of the Bears’ mistakes were correctable up front. Hopefully, they’re able to do that, and fast.