Thread: Angelo: Lack of continuity hurting Bears offensive line

Angelo: Lack of continuity hurting Bears offensive line


ChicagoBears.com senior writer Larry Mayer sits down with general manager Jerry Angelo to discuss the most pressing issues involving the Bears every Wednesday. This unique feature will provide you with inside information directly from Jerry that you can’t get anywhere else.
LM: Given what transpired Sunday night with the Bears giving up a franchise-record 10 sacks against the Giants, how concerned are you about the state of the offensive line?

A hamstring injury to left tackle Chris Williams has hurt the Bears offensive line.JA: “I’m concerned because we didn’t protect the quarterback and haven’t been able to establish the same starting five. So we’re still playing musical chairs, in part because of the injury to Chris Williams. You don’t like that, but that’s what it is. I have a lot of confidence in coach [Mike] Tice putting the five best players out there each week. But we need to get the same five players playing every week. That’s the goal. It’s going to take longer than we thought or like, but that’s our situation. We trust the players who are out there; in their defense, it was a total offensive breakdown.”
LM: You’ve said before that you don’t need five All-Pros up front and that getting the linemen to play as a unit is of the utmost importance. Can you expand on that?
JA: “The key to good offensive line play is based on cohesion and a great offensive line coach, which we have with Mike Tice. The same five players playing together has been the formula for success. The importance of the same five players playing together stems from all the learning and adjustments that go on throughout the week and on game day. If one player makes a mistake, they all suffer—including the quarterback. I’m not minimizing talent, but if the players aren’t on the same page, talent is irrelevant. There have been a lot of very good offensive lines in the NFL historically that weren’t composed of household names.”
LM: In looking at the tape from Sunday night’s game, it’s clear that the line wasn’t solely to blame for all of the sacks. It appeared to me that the tight ends missed blocks and the quarterback also held onto the ball too long a few times. How would you assess what you saw?
JA: “It was a butt-kicking. It’s as simple as that. I’ve been in this business a long time, but anytime it happens it stings, and it should. We were all embarrassed by it. We can’t go back and undo what’s been done; our focus now is on what we need to do to correct it. It’s no more than that. No one is pointing fingers. We know what we have to do and we know we have to do it together.”
LM: What’s the likelihood of the Bears signing or trading for an offensive lineman, or are you expecting to move forward with the group that you have in place?
JA: “We’re always looking. I’m never going to say we’re going to stay status quo. If there’s a good player out there who can help us, we’ll look at him. We have no problem doing that. We don’t get in a comfort level when we’re doing well or make knee-jerk moves when things aren’t going well. The formula is the same whether we’re winning or losing. We’ll continue to look. But it’s hard to find quality players who can come in and make you better. It’s not easy to do, and we won’t make changes just for the sake of change.”
LM: What’s the latest with Jay Cutler’s condition as far as the concussion he suffered against the Giants?
JA: “We feel very confident that Jay’s going to be fine. We are going to do with Jay what we do with every player in his situation. Our medical staff is excellent. We will continue to monitor his progress and we feel very good about the process. We’ve been through this before and we will take it day-to-day. Our medical people will determine when he is healthy and available to play.”
LM: Why did the Bears decide to sign Charles Grant and release Mark Anderson?
JA: “As I’ve said before, we’re always going to do our due diligence and look at what players are out there. We did a lot of work on Charles in terms of game tape in the preseason and in the past, even as recently as his game from the UFL last Saturday. We feel that he’s a better fit than Mark was in terms of the left end position. He also has the ability to play down inside as a three-technique. We like his versatility, his experience speaks for itself, and he was an upgrade.”