Can the Bears build on their shutout victory against the Bills? | 1st & North
Can the Bears build on their shutout victory against the Bills? | 1st & North
On this episode of "First and North," Lou Canellis and NFC North insiders break down the latest buzz in the division: Can the Bears keep the momentum going after their shutout against the Bills? Bears Coach Ben Johnson even cracked a smile! Aidan Hutchinson is turning heads in Detroit with his standout practice sessions. There's buzz about whether Jordan Love will be back for the Packers in Week One. And could Micah Parsons be heading to the NFC North?
In his first regular-season press conference as the Chicago Bears head coach, Ben Johnson was asked if he could reveal who his starting left tackle would be come Monday night vs. Minnesota.
"I'll go with Braxton," Johnson said.
The fourth-year player out of Southern Utah University will retain his job protecting Caleb Williams' blindside. For now, at least.
What we know:
Johnson made it clear during camp that if whoever is at left tackle isn't performing at a level the Bears need, then the coaching staff will turn to another player to see if they can.
Jones understands this. He also knows he's still climbing the latter in terms of recovering from ankle surgery. Johnson noted this preseason was far from perfect for Jones, but Jones accomplished what he wanted to show the new coaching staff.
"I continue to show up and just try and get better each and every week, and that's what I've done," Jones said Tuesday. "There's still something to be shown, but regardless of the case I've shown up each week and, coming back from this injury, done everything I can."
Jones has 40 starts at left tackle in his three NFL seasons. Coming from FCS-level SUU as a fifth-round pick, it was an adjustment to the NFL. But, last year's Monday Night Football game against Minnesota in December was an example of how thin the Bears were at left tackle.
That's not the case this season, as 2025 second-round pick Ozzy Trapilo and camp revelation Theo Benedet were in the running to take the Bears' left tackle job.
Still, Johnson said he wanted to see a player emerge at that position and own it. That never happened across a month of camp and three preseason contests where 2024 third-round pick Kiran Amegadije
The Bears may have just tabbed Jones as their starting left tackle, as the safest option among the contenders, but the coaching staff knew incremental improvements as he finishes recovering from surgery would also mean incremental improvements in his game.
"He knows what he's doing," Johnson said. "Is it perfect every play? No, it's not. But we did see the execution go up over the course of the last few weeks. There is a trust level in him knowing what to do. We think that he's going to continue to ascend the more reps that he gets."
What's next:
Now, Jones needs to keep that left tackle job.
The Bears have already re-made the interior of their offensive line, but there are only so many moves a front office can make in the offseason. The Bears felt comfortable with Jones' experience to put him in the competition for the starting role, even as his recovery kept him out of OTAs and minicamp.
Jones is nearing the end of his recovery, the Bears wouldn't be playing him if he wasn't, and he's trying to put all the physical componentents together,
"It's not even the mental thing," Jones said. "To me, it's more of a little bit more of a physical, but it's getting there."
Jones said his left leg is doing more than his right, and he's getting closer to connecting the dots he needs physically.
"It's honestly a muscle and brain thing, connecting the tissues and just making sure my leg is working at the same pace as everything else," Jones said. "That's all it is, just kind of mirroring the two."
In camp, Jones said he worked the most on getting his confidence back. That's going to be tested Week 1 against a Vikings team that likes to blitz as much as possible. Getting the confidence completely back comes with getting more reps on the field.
"The biggest thing is just being critical of the small things, certain things that you didn't see before o, that might creep in now because of the injury," Jones said. "You're trying to knock those out and just kind of clean 'them up with reps and repetition and so that's the biggest thing is just getting a lot of reps for me."
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