Next man up for Bears
Coward needed to replace Daniels at LG after serious injury
Alex Bars was the next man up when Chicago Bears left guard James Daniels was injured in Thursday’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Rashaad Coward is expected to be up after Bars, however, as the team prepares for Sunday’s game at Carolina.
Coward started 10 games in 2019 at right guard, and while the Bears put him in the mix to start at right guard this year, a competition never materialized in training camp and newcomer Germain Ifedi essentially had the job from Day 1.
Daniels was lost for the season with a torn pectoral muscle he sustained during the 20-19 comeback victory over the Buccaneers after the first series of the third quarter. He will be placed on injuredreserve, although the team has yet tomake a rostermove.
The Bears could promote former Notre Dame center Sam Mustipher from the practice squad to takeDaniels’ place on the 53-man roster. Mustipher joined the Bears as an undrafted free agent last year and spent the season on the practice squad. Daniels was also the backup center, so there is a need for a No. 2 behind Cody Whitehair.
The Bears will have two significant players on IR in Daniels and running back Tarik Cohen (torn ACL). Reserve nose tackle John Jenkins is also on IR with a thumb injury.
Now the 25-year-old Coward will likely have the opportunity to play left guard in an offense seeking consistency and rhythm, particularly for a running game that has managed only 63 yards on 30 attempts over the last two games. The offense ranked 27th in the league, averaging 95.4 yards
per game, entering Sunday’s slate of games. Itwas 19th in yards per carry at 4.15.
“You’ve got to be able to run the football,” coach Matt Nagy said Friday morning after reviewing theWeek 5 game. “Believe it or not, there’s some times where ya’ll are seeing passes and they’re (runs), so it might look like it’s apass but they’re really run calls in there with the RPOs and some of the stuff you do and thingswe have on there.
“Butwe’re trying to stay as patient aswe can in that situation. I thought once we got behind 13-0, we had to do a little bit more in the pass game. And we did. We were more effective that way. The last two weeks, I’ve said it over and over, these two teams we’ve faced on the front line and linebackers, they’re really good. That’s not to take anything away from other teams that we played, that’s just the simple truth. Thesetwo fronts that we’ve played the last two weeks, that’s what they are.”
Offensive line coach Juan Castillo indicated Coward did a nice job preparing for training camp during the unusual offseason, but he really didn’t get time with the first unit to be considered for the starting role that went to Ifedi.
“He’s really worked hard. He’s about 320 pounds. He’s a good athlete,” Castillo said during camp. “But not just that. When (he) and I have talked about some of the fundamentals about what I keep saying about doing something over and over, he’s gone out and he’s worked those fundamentals and he’s done them over and over.
“If you were able to see what he looked like right now, you could see that, wow, he’s playing square, his footwork is more consistent, which are things that help you be a better player. I’m really excited about him because he’s an athlete, because he’s tough and physical and because he finishes.”
Bars, an undrafted free agent from Notre Dame like Mustipher, was inserted against the Buccaneers when Daniels was injured over Coward, who was also on the game-day roster. Bars allowed a sack on his first series, losing leverage against 347pound Buccaneers defensive tackle Vita Vea.