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It wasn’t an ideal four quarters of football from Teven Jenkins.
The Chicago Bears rookie offensive lineman was thrown into the lineup against the Green Bay Packers Week 14 after veteran left tackle Jason Peters went down with an ankle injury in the first quarter. It was his second NFL game, and it showed.
After playing just two special teams snaps in his NFL debut against the Arizona Cardinals Week 13, Jenkins amassed two false start penalties and two holding calls (although one flag for holding was declined because it led to a strip-sack of rookie quarterback Justin Fields) in Chicago’s 45-30 loss at Lambeau Field.
That strip-sack was the result of Jenkins getting beaten by Green Bay pass rusher Preston Smith, and it was one of a few concerning plays the rookie made in his second game as a pro.
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Jenkins Battled, Struggled vs Packers
Jenkins earned an ugly 25.0 overall grade from Pro Football Focus against the Packers, allowing five hurries, two sacks and seven pressures. He also displayed some questionable technique.
It’s likely the young tackle was just overwhelmed and exasperated, but Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus shared the following still image of Jenkins attempting to block a Green Bay pass rusher, and … it’s not good:
If Jenkins continues to stick his legs out in an attempt to dissuade incoming defenders, there are going to be a ton of yellow flags in his future.
“That’s a tough spot for Tev,” Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields said about Jenkins on December 12 after the game. “I know he wanted to play great today. The sack he gave up, I just told him, ‘Look, it’s your first game. Prime time, Sunday night. You’re a rookie, first-ever playing time right now. Of course you’re going to make mistakes. You have to go in there knowing you’re going to make mistakes and just learn from them and make sure they don’t happen again.’ He was pretty bummed about it, but I just told him don’t worry about it and just move on to the next play, next drive.”
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It’s Far Too Early to Judge Jenkins
Jenkins had back surgery in August, and there were questions whether or not he would even be able to play this year. The fact that he even is on the field is a victory in a sense. When he wasn’t able to practice physically, Jenkins hit the books in an attempt to grow mentally.
“When I was at home, I was still attending meetings for an hour or two. And what I did was, wrote down the plays, go home. I would mentally roll them out in my head with like a whole bunch of different scenarios,” Jenkins said on December 8.” “And when it came to it, when I was actually able to move around a little bit better, I would actually do walk-throughs, like a walk-through situation with myself and on the board. And my fiancée, she helped me out a little bit too, helped me trying to remember my things.”
Jenkins also had a future Hall of Famer in Peters to learn from, which was an unfortunate side effect of his surgery.
“The con was me getting surgery. The pro was I ended up learning from Jason Peters,” Jenkins said. “So I’m glad he’s here. I’m glad we got to bring him in and I’m glad I’m learning from him.”
It was a rough game for Jenkins, but considering it was his first game in over a year, there was bound to be some rust. It was just one game, and he was facing a formidable pass rushing unit in Green Bay. If the bad performances and habits continue, however, then it may be time to start worrying.
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