Blocking Bears: Ranking the Offensive Line Through Week 6

The Chicago Bears offensive line is no different than any team in the league. No individual performance stands above the cohesion of the group. Because the offensive line is not about individuals. It is about working as one. However, we need to be able to assess players on a stand-alone basis to determine where the Bears need to improve going forward.

In this article, we rank the Bears offensive linemen based on their performances through their Week 6 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars . To build out my grading system, I watched each game five times. Once for each position on the offensive line. I use a 5-tier grading system, ranking each rep as Great, Good, Fine, Poor, or Bad. Then, I used these tiers to generate the final grades and block success rates. For grading purposes, 60 is considered average.

Additionally, I have included videos for each player. These include every positive and negative rep from the previous game, omitting the "Fine" reps. And make sure to check out the Bears On Tap offensive line film review on YouTube.

1. Darnell Wright - Right Tackle

Previous Rank: 1 (no change)

Darnell Wright remains in the top spot with a grade of 65.2 (slightly above average). Wright looked like he had some extra burst against the Jaguars in London. He was a key part of the Bears run game but did have some issues handling Travon Walker's extreme length.

In pass protection, Wright had his share of both good and bad reps. The good is rooted in his early hand usage and powerful redirection. The bad rooted from oversetting outside, allowing defenders the inside lane, and lunging. Overall, it was a good enough day in pass protection.

As a run blocker, Wright was a force player for the Bears again. This is becoming a trend. While he is not always the most in control as a run blocker, one thing is for sure, he can plow rushing lanes open. He actually limited the negatives in this area this week, resulting in a strong run-blocking grade. Wright is really wearing opponents down with the way he is playing.

Overall, a good week for Wright. I would like to see the pass protection technique get cleaned up, but I have a feeling he is managing the best he can while playing through a back injury.

Wright's season block success rate of 81.65% ranks third on the team. He has recorded an above-average rep on 28.68% of snaps, ranking second on the team. Meanwhile, Wright has recorded negative reps on 18.3% of plays, which is third-best on the team.

2. Teven Jenkins - Left Guard

Previous Rank: 2 (no change)

Jenkins remains in second with a 64.6 blocking grade (slightly above average). Jenkins might have had his most complete game of the year in London against the Jaguars . While he graded well in Week 5 against Carolina, he only played half the game. This week, he played the entire game (minus kneel-downs) and was a difference-maker.

In pass protection, Jenkins had a few dominant blocks and a handful of "Good" reps while minimizing the negative plays. The technique is not always very sound, but his size, power, and athleticism often allow him to win without it. Especially against inferior opponents. His aggression was missing the first four weeks of the season but seems to be back over these last two games.

As a run blocker, Tev was a real difference-maker for the Bears. While he only logged one dominant rep, I have him down for 10 good reps. His power and aggression were on display all game long. While he did record a handful of negative reps as well, the positives far outweighed the negatives.

Overall, it is good to see the aggressive, physical, mauling version of Jenkins back on the field. I do not know what held him back over the first four weeks of the season, but this looks like the Teven Jenkins we all expected entering the season.

Teven's block success rate of 82.74% ranks first on the team. Jenkins has recorded an above-average rep on 25.08% of snaps while recording negative reps on 17.3% of plays. He is fourth on the team in above-average play rate but has the lowest rate of below-average plays.

3. Matt Pryor - Right Guard

Previous Rank: 4 (+1)

Matt Pryor comes in fourth with a 62.0 blocking grade (average). Pryor continues to bring a dominant trait to the table with his raw power. Combined with Jenkins and Wright, that power trait is becoming an identity for this offensive line. With Pryor, it comes with a little more downside as his speed gets taken advantage of at times. That was on display a handful of times in Week 6 . But the positives continue to outweigh the negatives for this unit.

In pass protection, Pryor uses his size, length, and powerful punch to stymie opponents off the snap. Especially against a small Jaguars defensive tackle room, his strength advantage was apparent. However, the smaller DT room made him pay with speed a few times throughout the game.

As a run blocker, his lack of speed and mobility was more apparent than in previous weeks. While he had plenty of impressive downhill blocks, he did have his share of misses on zone-blocking concepts and in space.

Overall, it will be hard to unseat Pryor as long as his raw strength continues to play at this level. The OL identity is leaning into the power they can generate between Pryor, Jenkins, and Wright. Plus, his power is a compensating factor for the undersized Coleman Shelton.

On the season, Pryor's block success rate of 79.85% ranks fourth. He recorded above-average reps 25.86% of the time, ranking third on the team. His negative rep rate of 20.2% comes in at fourth. Overall, you live with a boom-bust nature when Pryor is on the field. But that is still better than a player who busts often without providing much boom.

4. Braxton Jones - Left Tackle

Previous Rank: 5 (+1)

The Bears starting left tackle, Braxton Jones, comes in fourth with a 59.0 blocking grade (slightly below average). Jones had a middle-of-the-road game against the Jaguars in London. He was overmatched by Jaguars EDGE rusher Josh Hines-Allen a few times, which was predictable. However, he continued to show more variety in his pass sets and punch timing, which I like to see from him.

In pass protection, his anchor continued to be an issue against the rotation of power rushers the Jaguars threw at him. That quicker hand activity he did kept them at bay more often than in weeks prior, even if it did seem a little unnatural to him.

I would love to see a better anchor from Braxton, but I am not sure that is a realistic ask. His best path would be to continue growing his hand and set techniques to avoid needing to anchor so often. There are flashes of it, but defenders still get right into his chest too often across the entire game.

As a run blocker, it was an okay performance for Braxton. He had a few busts and a few nice blocks. Most notably, he had one excellent block as a puller into deep space, hitting his man with good radar. But the day as a whole was only okay due to a handful of reps where he was handled.

Overall, it was a fine game from Braxton. The performance leaves me wanting more from the position, though. I like the growth in his punch timing and setting variance over the last two weeks, but I want to see it grow faster.

Braxton's block success rate of 79.1% is fifth on the team. He has recorded above-average reps 24.54% of the time, ranking fifth on the team. His negative rep rate of 20.9% also ranks fifth on the team.

5. Bill Murray - Left Guard

Previous Rank: 3 (-2)

The odd case of Bears offensive guard Bill Murray. I have him slotted into the sixth spot here despite posting the best grade on the team at 73.6 (Good). I knocked him down the rankings due to the limited sample size ( 40 snaps ).

Clearly, the Bears coaching staff think Teven Jenkins and Matt Pryor give the Bears a better chance to win than Murray. I have a hard time disagreeing with that assessment. While Murray did put together outstanding tape against Carolina, he lacks the size and power of Jenkins or Pryor. As long as Coleman Shelton is starting at center, I think Jenkins and Pryor are the best options at guard.

Murray's block success rate of 81.82% ranks second on the team. He recorded an above-average rep on 36.36% of snaps while recording negative reps on 18.2% of plays. He is first on the team in above-average play rate and has the second-lowest rate of below-average plays.

6. Coleman Shelton - Center

Previous Rank: 7 (+1)

Coleman Shelton's grade comes in at 55.3 (below average), ranking 6th on the team. Shelton had his best game as a Bear in London against the Jaguars. Granted, some of that has to do with the Jaguars DT room being light on big-bodied talent. Another part of it is rooted in playing between two massive bodies in Jenkins and Pryor. But I have to give credit where it is due. Shelton performed well on Sunday.

In pass protection, he showed better anchor than we had seen from him in previous weeks. There weren't many instances of him being walked back. He did get a lot of guard help for most of the game to prevent that. Kudos to the offensive scheme to recognize where help is needed.

As a run blocker, Shelton had a few nice finishes in space and showed his movement ability a handful of times. For being his strongest trait, I would like to see a more consistent radar in space, but he generally did his job on that front. There were a few moments where he went the wrong direction as a run blocker, but it was a good day for him all things considered.

Overall, we will see if this performance is a step in the right direction or a reflection of the Jaguars DT talent. I lean towards the latter, but time will tell. Either way, it is nice to see Shelton get a good performance under his belt.

Shelton's block success rate of 78.59% ranks sixth on the team. He has recorded an above-average rep on 20.89% of snaps, which ranks seventh on the team. Meanwhile, he has recorded a negative rep on 21.4% of snaps, ranking sixth on the team.

7. Nate Davis - Right Guard

Previous Rank: 6 (-1)

Davis ranks seventh on the Bears, posting an overall grade of 54.9 (poor). Davis is in the dog house, with the team turning to Bill Murray when they needed snaps against the Panthers.

Davis has a block success rate of 77.27%, ranking seventh on the team. He has recorded above-average reps 23.48% of the time, which is the sixth-best rate on the team. Davis has recorded negative reps on 22.7% of reps, the seventh-best rate on the team. His overall grade takes an extra hit with 3 penalties on only 142 snaps .

Overall, I still see Davis as being a starting-caliber talent . It is just a question of how well he executes the assignments, plays with urgency, and shows good football IQ. As much as I want to believe he can flip a switch, I struggle to envision him suddenly becoming more consistent. Considering how his opportunities have dried up, I have to think the Bears agree.

8. Ryan Bates - Right Guard

Previous Rank: 8 (no change)

Bates ranks 8th with a grade of 45 (Bad). In Week 1 , I saw a player who was limited with his body mechanics and less able to reach blocks on time. But, that was one game with an entire offensive line he never saw live reps with. He seemed very assignment-sound but somewhat limited in his ability to win those assignments. All of those reps came at right guard.

Bates's block success rate of 74.29% ranks last on the team. He has recorded an above-average rep on 8.6% of snaps, ranking last by a wide margin. Further, he has recorded negative reps on 25.7% of snaps, the highest rate on the team. I'm interested to see Bates at center once he returns from injury. His anchor and play strength have to be better than Shelton's.

Final Thoughts

Through Week 6, the Bears best five offensive linemen are Darnell Wright, Teven Jenkins, Matt Pryor, Braxton Jones, and Bill Murray. The issue with that, though, is none of those players can play center. The pivot continues to be an issue for the Bears despite efforts to bring in stopgaps this offseason.

The Bears offensive line played well against a Jaguars defensive line with quality EDGE talent but undersized defensive tackles. Over the last two weeks, the unit has played really well against teams with real flaws in the structure of their defensive line. Over the bye week, I hope they can make a few tweaks to their scheme and protections to extend that success to more talented fronts. The team is on to the Washington Commanders after the bye.

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