Top Bears’ Starter Faces Serious Injury That Could Break Sputtering Offense

The Chicago Bears scratched out a victory in Week 4 against the depleted Los Angeles Rams but now face a major injury concern of their own in the aftermath.

Left guard Teven Jenkins exited the contest in the first half with a rib injury and was unable to return to action.

“Teven Jenkins (ribs) has been downgraded to OUT,” ESPN’s Courtney Cronin reported via an X post on Sunday, September 29.

Jenkins’ initial designation was “questionable” to return. That team doctors downgraded him to “out” could have had something to do with the pain the offensive lineman was in following the injury. However, it could also be related to specific findings upon closer examination by the training staff — including X-rays.

Chicago will likely address Jenkins’ status on Monday, as well as potentially later in the week. If he ends up missing any significant time, the Bears’ already poorly performing offensive line is going to feel it.

And more importantly, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams is going to feel it — something that has already been a major issue just four games into his career.

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Teven Jenkins Clearly Bears’ Best Offensive Lineman

The loss of Jenkins would be a big deal for several reasons, but first and foremost, he’s simply the best a bad Bears offensive line has got.

Only Jenkins, who Pro Football Focus (PFF) ranks 28th out of 64 guards across the NFL who have seen enough snaps to qualify through four games, and left tackle Braxton Jones are considered in the top half of their positions league-wide.

As a result, Chicago’s run game struggled through three weeks until there was something of a breakthrough on Sunday. Running back D’Andre Swift produced 93 yards on 16 carries and the Bears tallied 131 rushing yards and 2 TDs on the ground as a team.

Losing Jenkins will seriously impede Chicago’s ability to run the football, as his exit on Sunday necessitated Matt Pryor moving from right guard to left guard and the re-insertion of Nate Davis into the right guard spot. Head coach Matt Eberflus benched Davis ahead of Week 3 after poor play and issues with the lineman’s work ethic in practice.

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Bears Have Favorable Schedule Over Next 2 Weeks

Meanwhile, opposing pass rushers have sacked Williams 16 times already this season, which is one of the worst marks in the NFL, and driven him into the ground via big hits far more frequently than that.

PFF’s Zoltán Buday ranked Chicago’s offensive line 20th out of 32 teams coming into Week 4. He also named Jenkins as the unit’s best player.

“Jenkins has allowed pressure on 4.1% of pass plays this season, which is the best rate of his career,” Buday wrote on September 25.

Chicago’s saving grace may only be the fact that the team plays its next two games at Soldier Field against what are ostensibly two of the worst opponents in the league — the Carolina Panthers (1-3) and the Jacksonville Jaguars (0-4).

The Panthers have just 5 sacks as a team this season, while the Jaguars aren’t much better with only 7 sacks through four games, per NFL.com. That said, a Bears offensive line absent Jenkins is a recipe for even bad pass-rushing defenses to get something going, which makes the coming update(s) to Jenkins’ status crucial to Chicago’s outlook over the next few weeks.

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