Sitton likely sittin’ against former team
Offensive line will lose continuity if Pro Bowl guard can’t go vs. Pack
Josh Sitton’s ankle injury is just what the Bears didn’t need.
Their six- game streak of offensiveline continuity to start the season is a big reason the offense is at least gaining yards and avoiding costly sacks, even if it’s not scoring points.
Sitton, a three- time Pro Bowl guard with the Packers, has been playing at a Pro Bowl level with the Bears. He suffered the injury on the second- to- last offensive play against the Jaguars. The Bears’ streak of continuity — and Sitton’s chance to play against his former teammates — is in jeopardy. He didn’t participate in the walk- through Tuesday at Halas Hall. Eric Kush likely will replace Sitton if he can’t play.
But you never can count Sitton out. He has played in 81 consecutive games and 129 of 131 overall since becoming a starter for the Packers in 2009. He missed two games in 2011 with a sprained right knee. And he has had many more injuries than that.
“The thing I always appreciated about Josh was his toughness,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said Tuesday. “The guy played with some serious dings on his body for years and was always a warrior out there and playing through things.”
Sitton, a Florida native who played at Central Florida, signed with the Bears the day after he was cut by the Packers on Sept. 3 — despite being at or near the top of his game. Sitton insisted he had “no vendetta against his old team.
“Honestly, it didn’t have anything to do with sticking it to the Packers,” he said the day he joined the Bears. “More familiar with the division, close to where I was. I like the weather up here. It’s too damn hot in the south.”
The Bears already know what they’ve gained, and the Packers know what they’ve lost.
“We had a lot of great times together— a lot of big, high moments,” Rodgers said. “[ He’s] a really funny guy [ who] always knew how to keep it light even at a moment of frustration. I always appreciated his attitude and how he put his body on the line.”
The Bears could use some of Sitton’s quips, jokes and anecdotes in a season already fraught with too many moments of frustration. At 1- 5, Sitton is learning how the other half lives. The Packers made the playoffs in all eight seasons he was a starter and won Super Bowl XLV in 2010- 11. In fact, the Packers never were worse than 3- 3 after six games when Sitton was there.
“I’ve been on a couple of teams that were struggling. I’ve been on both sides of it,” Sitton said last week. “You try not to focus on that. You focus on what you can control. We’re always focusing on trying to get better every day and trying to win the next game. And we’re moving in the right direction here.”