Ranking the NFL offensive lines - Chicago Bears near the bottom

For many, many years (decades even), the Chicago Bears have been known as a defensive team; that's not exactly a revelation to anyone... We are who we've always been.

However, over the last few seasons, pieces have been put into place to solidify certain positions on offense, and the good news for Bears fans is that 2012 may boast the most talent they've seen in their lifetime. Well, at least at the skill positions.

The bad news is that, while Cutler, Forte, Marshall, etc. are all sexy pieces of the puzzle, the offensive line still has almost identical questions that they've had over the last several seasons. Jerry Angelo believed in more of a plug-and-play mentality, even though he did end up selecting OL in the first round of the 2011 and 2008 NFL Drafts (Carimi and Williams, respectively). Unfortunately, each of those selections went down in their rookie year, and Williams has been inconsistent since then to say the least.

Despite the addition of a couple 1st-rounders, the question marks remain.

SB Nation took a stab at ranking the NFL offensive lines, and it's no surprise to see the Bears come in at #29.

That Jay Culter can still walk after last season is a minor miracle, with the deadly combination of Mike Martz' silly insistence on getting his passers killed and a leaky offensive line. The Bears have hopes pinned on a full season of health from Gabe Carimi in his second year. J'Marcus Webb has been one of the league's worst left tackles, allowing 24 sacks over the last two seasons.

At the end of the day, a QB-RB-WR triple threat looks good on paper, but the wars are won in the trenches. How much should we trust Mike Tice and company? Once again, for another season, Chicago Bears fans will have to cross their fingers and wait to see what happens.

Oh, and by the way... SB Nation has the Packers ranked #1, the Lions at #15, and Vikings at #25.