Chicago Bears: Second joint practice with Denver Broncos revealed plenty

The Ugly

For the second day in a row, this honor goes to Bears center Cody Whitehair. The offensive lineman struggled during the team’s second preseason game with the Cincinnati Bengals and in yesterday’s joint practice with the Broncos. Whitehair continues to combat snapping errors, being unable to get the ball to quarterback Mitch Trubisky while in the shotgun formation.

Whitehair was missing the snaps both low and high on Thursday. For the second day in a row, it was clearly impacting the flow of the offense. This is something that needs to see improvement immediately for Whitehair, or he could be forced to move from center.

While Trubisky defended Whitehair’s issues after practice, this is a worrying trend that Bears fans don’t want to see continue. Whitehair isn’t even a natural center, he’s played guard and tackle most of his career. He was moved to center in 2016 after the Bears signed guard Josh Sitton.

The Bears also have a replacement at center waiting in the wings in rookie James Daniels, who was selected 39th overall in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Daniels has struggled a bit in camp, but that’s to be expected from a rookie. The only other center the Bears have is Hroniss Grasu, who is in danger of being cut before the season starts and isn’t in contention to play.

It isn’t clear if Nagy will make the switch to put Whitehair back at guard and move Daniels to center, but it may be worth keeping track of during Saturday’s game to see if the coach will experiment.

Wrapping it up

Overall, it was a good couple of days for the Bears, especially for most of the starters. The offense looked solid each day, and it’s great to see  the rookie Smith finally out there in a Bears uniform. Saturday is the big test for the Bears, so stay tuned to see how the team competes in their third preseason game.