The Bears’ offensive line issues threaten to derail every potential upgrade the Bears are hoping for on offense before the season even starts.
Darnell Mooney’s giant leap, Cole Kmet’s breakout season and David Montgomery reaching the next level aren’t likely to happen if Teven Jenkins, James Daniels and Germain Ifedi are out. Andy Dalton looks like an upgrade over Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles in the early going of training camp — but even that upgrade could be muted, if not imperceptible, if the Bears have similar line issues to last season.
That said, even with an unusual spate of injuries that does not bode well at this point, there is one training camp narrative that seems likely to have legs — the idea that first-year defensive coordinator Sean Desai will provide a boost for a once elite defense that lost its bite in two seasons under Chuck Pagano.