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Have the Chicago Bears Finally Fixed This Question Mark?
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- Have the Chicago Bears Finally Fixed This Question Mark?
The Chicago Bears had one of the best offensive lines in football last year.
The additions of Joe Thuney , Jonah Jackson, and Drew Dalman played a huge part in the turnaround between the trenches.
Darnell Wright had already been with the Bears at that point, so he really just had to gel well with his new teammates.
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Left tackle was a revolving door for the first half of the season, then Ozzy Trapilo took over.
The Bears weren't able to keep the offensive line completely intact after last year.
Dalman retired after one season with the Bears, and they had to pivot to someone else.
The Bears traded for Garrett Bradbury from the New England Patriots, and he's going to be the starting center.
The Bears weren't able to keep all of their starting offensive linemen healthy. Trapilo went down with a patellar injury in the playoffs and was expected to miss most of the 2026 season.
Trapilo has defied the odds so far and has been practicing with the team. If he's unable to play in Week 1, the Bears have Braxton Jones and Theo Benedet back this year.
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Bears General Manager Ryan Poles had media availability on Tuesday and spoke about the situation at left tackle.
He was asked how he felt about the depth at left tackle while waiting for Trapilo to return to full health.
"Yeah, I think we feel a little bit better," Poles said. "Just, Braxton's way healthier than he was last year. I don't know if he was completely himself last year. So, he's in a better place. Theo has a bunch of games under his belt too. And then, obviously, when Ozzy's ready, he's started a bunch of big games himself. So, we feel good about it."
Compared to how things were last year, I think that it's valid for Poles to feel this way.
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Braxton Jones only went a handful of games as the starter before he was out of the lineup due to knee injuries. Benedet held down the position for a few games before being replaced by Trapilo.
Just when things started to look good for the Bears, Trapilo had his season-ending injury.
Entering last year, Jones was coming off a season-ending ankle injury, and you could tell that he wasn't himself.
He's now had a full offseason to get back to his old self.
With Benedet, he was unproven last year after being on the practice squad in 2024. He got valuable experience and is now a reliable swing tackle for Chicago.
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Then, of course, there's Trapilo, who was looking like the franchise left tackle before his injury.
One thing that's changed from last year to now is that left tackle was a question mark for the team. Now, it's a position that fans should be feeling much better about.
Jones is back to his old self, Benedet is now a reliable backup and Trapilo can take over when he's ready.
Left tackle shouldn't be a position of worry for the Bears anymore.
