Chicago Bears: LT J'Marcus Webb Must Play Better or Mike Tice Will Look Elsewhere

By Bear Heiser
Senior Writer

Offensive line play, specifically in pass protection, has been a major issue for the Chicago Bears in recent years. Since 2009, the Bears have finished in the bottom half of the league in the category of sacks allowed, giving up, 35, 56 and 49, respectively.

Back in 2008, former general manager Jerry Angelo grabbed left tackle Chris Williams to be the team’s cornerstone blind side protector. But after a couple of sub-par seasons from Williams, Angelo and the Bears decided to plug 2010 7th round pick J’Marcus Webb in on the left side.

Webb has been serviceable at best for the Bears. Last season, Webb’s 14 penalties led all offensive lineman, and his 12 sacks allowed was the second most of anyone at the tackle position.

Much of the line’s failures can directly be tied to former offensive coordinator Mike Martz‘s very deliberate and very unbalanced passing scheme—lots of seven step drops, slow developing pass routes and a lack of consistency with run calls. But Martz is now out of the picture, and former offensive line coach Mike Tice is now in charge of what has been the Bears’ most glaring weakness.

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Tice has come in and installed a more pass-friendly system; one that contains shorter drop backs, shorter passing routes and a commitment to Matt Forte and the run game.

With training camp now well underway, these changes don’t appear to be helping Webb very much. In the Bears’ preseason opener against the Denver Broncos, Webb picked up where he left off last season, allowing one sack along with a false start penalty. Tice left Webb in the game well into the fourth quarter, which is extremely rare for starters in the preseason.

“Anytime your players are playing with inconsistency, as a coach you struggle,” Tice said of Webb’s play. “So you want to look at what you’re doing first — what kind of drills, what are you asking him to do, how are you teaching him? How you’re powerpoint’s going. What kind of film you’re showing. What kind of notes they’re taking. That’s all I can do.

“I can’t worry about Webb Nation and all the other things he does socially. That’s not for me. He’s a grown man. I just want him to play better football for us.”

If you aren’t familiar with Webb’s social presence, you should check out his Twitter account. Much has been made about his wacky tweets and desire to brand himself “J-Webb Nation.” Webb is also somewhat of an outsider to the rest of the Bears’ lineman, according to a few unnamed Chicago media members who follow the team on a daily basis.

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What Webb does off the field is hardly a concern in the grand scheme of things; he just needs to put more focus on protecting Jay Cutler. It has been decades since the Bears have had a franchise quarterback, so protecting the one they have couldn’t possibly be more important to the success of the team. Sure, it’s only the preseason, but the somewhat new offensive system is supposed to allow lineman like Webb to operate with less pressure. But that’s not how it’s played out so far.

As a result, Williams is expected to get a shot at some of his reps.

Via David Kaplan of Comcast Sports Net Chicago, Tice said, “the team was going to go with a timeshare between Chris Williams and “the other player” meaning J’Marcus Webb at first-string left tackle in Saturday’s preseason game.”

If Williams were to move over to the left side on a full-time basis, 2011 first round pick Gabe Carimi would likely be named the starter on the right side. Carimi missed much of his rookie season due to a knee injury, so he will require an adjustment period.

In all likelihood, though, Tice is just sending Webb a message: shape up or get shipped elsewhere. The Bears know what they have in Williams, so if there were going to move him to the left side, they would have done it a long time ago.

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Back in April’s draft, everyone and their brother thought the Bears would draft offensive line in the first round, but they ended up shocking everyone with the selection of defensive end Shea McClellin. That was the moment when Tice and the rest of the Bears’ coaching staff decided that Webb was to be their starting left tackle come Week 1 of the 2012 regular season.

Luckily for the Bears, three preseason games still remain, which is plenty of time for Tice and his offensive coaches to mix and match until they find something that tickles their fancy.

Stay tuned for more Bears training camp coverage.

Follow Bear on Twitter: @BearHeiser

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