Bears’ 'chaos management' key on OL

November 27, 2012, 6:56 pm

	JOHN "MOON" MULLIN Archive
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Exactly which of the injured Bears – Spencer, cornerback Charles Tillman, linebacker Lance Briggs, running back Matt Forte, returner Devin Hester – will play Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks really won’t be known until that morning, maybe on Friday if coach Lovie Smith announces an early “out.”
 
And exactly what any of the personnel situation mean won’t really be clear until mid-afternoon that day.
 
But chaos is often the friend of the prepared and the Bears have managed chaos extremely well recently, particularly on the offensive line, when forced on them by injury or incompetence.
 
Holding Jared Allen, Kevin Williams and Minnesota Vikings at bay after demotions and injuries was not the first time for successful chaos management.
 
The Bears reached the 2010 NFC Championship game with Frank Omiyale starting the last 14 games of the season at left tackle. So if there are any misgivings remaining with either J’Marcus Webb (a rookie emergency right tackle for the last 12 games) or Jonathan Scott. Omiyale is now the backup left tackle for the Seahawks.
 
And the starting left guard beginning with the Seattle game and the subsequent 10 after than was Chris Williams, a former No. 1 pick as a tackle and who’d never played guard before. Sound familiar?
 
Last year’s team went to 7-3, ranked sixth in scoring and as high as No. 9 rushing with an offensive line that went through Gabe Carimi, Omiyale and finally Lance Louis in just the first six games.
 
Fill-in’s set a standard
 
The real point is how Carimi and Edwin Williams played on short notice against Minnesota. For perspective, Carimi not only had never played guard, but spent the week working entirely at tackle, albeit as the swing tackle.
 
Williams has been almost exclusively the backup center behind Roberto Garza. The result with the fill-in’s was no sacks.
 
“I really liked what [Carimi] was able to do,” Smth said. “When you haven’t played that position and the team needs you and you step in right away and play pretty good – just like Edwin Williams, hadn’t gotten a lot of time, but he stepped in and did a good job also.”

Tags: nfl, Football, Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Matt Forte, Kevin Williams, Lovie Smith, Devin Hester, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, Jared Allen, Chris Williams, edwin williams, Frank Omiyale, J'Marcus Webb, Roberto Garza, Lance Louis, Gabe Carimi, Chris Spencer, Jonathan Scott, 2010 NFC Championship