I feel pretty good about the Oline this year. I know, I was pretty worried about how they were going to perform last year and they by far exceeded my expectations. Certainly the personal is upgraded over last years and we have the same coaching, which was excellent last year.

It will be interesting to see if Williams gets the RT spot. I feel like Shaffer will be better at run blocking than Williams, more of a bulldozer, which is what you want at RT. They say that Williams is more of a technique guy better sited for LT. Of course a 2nd year 1st rnd pick should be on the field.

I like the signings of Pace, Shaffer, Omiyale. Competition breeds success; hopefully CW gets the memo.

Imagine holes for Forte/Jones to run through, pass protection that will allow the pocket to last for more than 1.3 seconds to give our new mobile QB time to show off his canon, and keep our new prized investment off his back on the painted dirt between the hashmarks.

Not to sound like a total homer, but Forte will benefit from actually having blockers this season. Defenses will have to respect Cutler’s deep threat ability, and with fewer 3 & outs our defense should be more rested and hopefully be able to keep the leads that the offense will provide.

I’m looking forward to how the season(and hopefully postseason) unfolds…

he did a good job last year and i didn’t think garza did

I might move Beekman for Graza. I thought he did well last season. of course this won’t happen.

Good post though I have been wondering about the O-line with all the signings.

but yeah I wonder how much Kreutz has left in the tank.

I don’t think the line did a bad job of pass protection last year and the personnel improvements should only help that. The run blocking, on the other hand, wasn’t that great. We can blame Jason McKie all we want, and hopefully we won’t see much of that play anymore, but your offensive line should be able to get you 1 yard at any place on the field and at any point in the game. I hope they keep that in mind with this year’s group. Also, on a somewhat related subject, I have a feeling that one of the real unnoticed signings this year for the Bears could really pay off with improved line play. Kevin Jones will be almost a full 2 years off of his knee surgery. Most experts feel like it takes a RB that long to completely recover from that procedure. Jones was a first round talent and pick of the Lions who had a very good rookie year before his injuries. Splitting time with Forte should help both of them stay healthy and could give the Bears one of the better 1-2 punches at RB in the NFC. If our line changes are wrong, all that goes out the window though, but I’m optimistic.

How good was St. Clair? Im a browns fan and i just want to no what to expect

very pessimistic when it comes to the Bears’ offensive line but I’m actually feeling good about this o line this year.

We’ve got enough talent that we’re having discussions about who should play where. A month ago we barely had enough bodies to hold a minicamp. That’s progress.

Williams-Shaffer will be a training camp storyline, because while I think they want to see what Williams can do, I don’t think they’ll hand him the job at RT. And the backup tackle is an important job when Pace is your starter on the left.

My impression is that Halas Hall sees Beekman as a Kruetz understudy with some value at guard, not as a projected long-term answer. Omiyale is a versatile guy who appears to be a better prospect at guard than tackle. And I think it’s important that he’s larger than Beekman.

A group consisting of Pace-Williams-Shaffer-Omiyale-Garza-Beekman-Kruetz doesn’t have a glaring weakness, and contains at least three players who can play multiple positions. That’s depth and talent. Now we just need to get them used to playing as a unit.

omiyale would make a good starter for LG. they should make him compete with kevin shaffer instead. he seems to be a better guard and a better run blocker than him or beekman