The Chicago Bears failed in nearly every aspect in Sunday's 9-3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, and yet there are clear narratives that certain players fit. One of these is veteran center Garrett Bradbury, who has been on thin ice since the spring when Chicago opted to draft what will be his replacement in Logan Jones. The rookie is expected to be paired with Caleb Williams and offer a long term option for Chicago, while Bradbury offers short term veteran stability.
However, this past Sunday, Bradbury was put on blast by fans as the center had five penalties early in the early going and helped stall a struggling offense. Clearly, head coach Ben Johnson was asked about this and offered, "He's doing a great job. It's a challenging day for a lot of people. We only scored three points, so yeah, we got a lot of guys that, myself included, I got to do a better job for these guys."
Johnson's point is clearly correct, while Bradbury unquestionably didn't help the center cannot be blamed for the struggles alone. Putting one player on blast on a day you managed to score only three points. Anyone not playing on the defensive side has to look in the mirror and consider what they could've done better.
No question, Johnson is calling out exactly what he should and not looking at blaming one player for a collective failure. Still, it makes sense that this is a point of contention with Jones waiting in the wings and Bradbury clearly a stopgap.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson is quick to defend Garrett Bradbury despite obvious failures
This week it is understandable that the Bears coaching staff is exercising a level of patience with the center. Chicago's failures offensively were vast and the mistakes that set up the loss are far from Bradbury alone. No question, the Bears owe the veteran at least another week before even considering making a change.
Sloppy weather and a collective failure leaves a level of patience in the veteran with his history suggesting this game was the outlier. If the struggles were to continue the Bears will have a very different outlook on the situation.
Jones is in the wings waiting and if penalties were to become a consistent problem over more than a single game the franchise would have to make a change. No question, Johnson offers the correct outlook here defending an accomplished veteran who like much of the Chicago offensive roster had an awful Week 2.
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