When Drew Dahlman's surprise retirement shocked the Bears early into the offseason, the team quickly found a superb replacement in Garrett Bradbury. Bradbury had been hot off of a Super Bowl appearance where he and the New England Patriots fell short at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks, and he entered the free agent market.
The Bears drafted Logan Jones in the second round of the 2026 draft, causing plenty of speculation around Bradbury's role and how secure it really was. The messaging that we've gotten from the Bears leadership has been consistent that Bradbury is the Bears starting center.
And then Week 2 threw a monkey wrench in the whole process.
Bradbury's four flags highlight a miserable Bears afternoon
During the first half of the Sunday matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, Bradbury committed an uncharacteristic four penalties prior to halftime. Three of them came as holds, while the fourth was a false start. We got lucky on one of them due to a Viking defender committing an offsetting penalty, but the issue remains.
"He's doing a great job. It's a challenging day for a lot of people. We only scored the points. We got a lot of guys that –myself included. I gotta do a better job for these guys."Ben Johnson
Bradbury's importance to the Bears goes beyond a single afternoon. Chicago brought in the veteran to provide stability for their offensive line while they get Logan Jones up to speed. It's also worth noting that Bradbury is in Chicago on a one-year deal.
It was a rough day for everyone involved in the Bears side, and that heavily includes the fans. Days like the one Bradbury had can happen sometimes, and the silver lining here is that at least it happened at an early time when there's plenty of season left to correct it.
One bad day can't define Bradbury's season, and the Bears can't let it interfere with the goals they've set for themselves. With a little luck and plenty of preparation, this could end up going down as Bradbury's worst performance as a Bear.
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