Bear Necessities: How much longer will the rotation at right guard continue?

Bears OL Teven Jenkins and Lucas Patrick have pretty much equally split reps at right guard this season. How long will that continue?

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The Chicago Bears have been rotating Teven Jenkins and Lucas Patrick at right guard for the last two weeks, and it’s been pretty much an equal split of reps at this point.

Through two games, Jenkins has played 50 snaps at right guard while Patrick ha splayed 49.

While Jenkins played 53% of snaps against the San Francisco 49ers, it was Patrick earning a majority at 54% against the Packers.

The rotation is happening as Patrick recovers from a broken right thumb suffered early in training camp. Patrick was brought in to be the starting center, but he’s been unable to snap the ball through the first two weeks of practice. As a result, they’ve been keeping him involved at right guard.

There’s certainly an argument to be made that the rotation isn’t helping matters along the offensive line, and there’s a question about when this rotation will finally come to an end.

Head coach Matt Eberflus was asked if he’d come to a decision about the rotation at right guard, and he seemed to indicate that Patrick’s thumb could be healed soon enough so he can return to center, where Sam Mustipher has been filling in.

“It depends on where we have Lucas, depends on what Lucas can do with his thumb,” Eberflus said Monday, via Sun-Times.

Whether that’s the case this week heading into the Texans game remains to be seen.