The Chicago Bears offensive line had a disastrous outing against the Minnesota Vikings in Sunday’s 19-13 loss on Sunday. And there was one player in particular who noticeably struggled: center Cody Whitehair.
Whitehair struggled with snaps throughout the game, but he was replaced by Lucas Patrick in the fourth quarter. The assumption was the move was made based on performance, and this wasn’t the first time Whitehair had struggled with snaps — even last week when he stepped up in place of an injured Patrick.
Eberflus explained what went into the decision to replace Whitehair with Patrick at the end of the game, especially as it related to undrafted rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent, who replaced injured starter Justin Fields.
“Lucas obviously was going through concussion protocol during the week and when Justin went out and we had Tyson in there we thought it was best for our team to have the guy that had more experience in there playing center,” Eberflus said. “That’s that position that we have that Lucas has played for a long time. He has a lot of experience in there. We thought that would settle Bagent down little bit.”
Sure. But it also wasn’t because Whitehair was struggling with snaps throughout the game?
“No. It was just more about settling down and putting the guy that had more experience at center,” Eberflus said. “We feel good about both guys. And obviously we’ve switched guys around during the course of the year, guard, center. We are going to have to continue to do that based on where Nate (Davis) is. We’ll see. But we like our flexibility in there.”
With right guard Nate Davis sidelined with an ankle injury, there will be more shuffling along the offensive line heading into Week 7. The Bears could certainly elect to slide Patrick into that right guard spot and roll with Whitehair at center.