Bears' O-Line Shifts Continue
CHICAGO (CBS) -- When Bears quarterback Jay Cutler returns to the field on Sunday against the Seahawks, he'll have a much different-looking offensive line trying to protect him than the one that allowed him to be sacked nine times by the Giants two weeks ago.
CBS 2's Megan Mawicke reports that left guard Roberto Garza will have arthroscopic knee surgery and miss at least this week.
We know Jay Cutler is a tough quarterback and he said he pushed to play a bit against the Carolina Panthers last week, but after talking with doctors he realized a concussion is a whole different ball game.
"I've been banged up before and still went out and played, but your head and your brain, that's totally different," Cutler said. "Once you start getting into that element, you kind of have to take a step back."
When he returns from his concussion on Sunday, Cutler will be taking snaps behind a revamped offensive line.
In a suprising move, Chris Williams, said to be the team's left tackle of the future, will move to left guard to replace Garza. Frank Omiyale will take over the left tackle spot. Last week, coaches installed rookie J'Marcus Webb as the right tackle, replacing veteran Kevin Shaffer; and Edwin Williams was named starting right guard in place of Lance Louis.
So how hard is to have all these line changes?
"It's always hard because the offensive line is always about playing together," said veteran center Olin Kreutz, the only starting offensive lineman to keep his job from opening day. "That's the NFL, guys go down and others have to step up."
Williams, who has only been with the team just over a month, has quickly fit right in and will start at right guard for the second straight week.
"Olin keeps the offensive line together, it's a different culture than I had with other teams, but if we are all out there and playing like brothers, fighting for each other it doesn't really matter who is in there, were fight and play as a had as we can," Williams said.
Webb will also stay in as starting right tackle.
So, last week the offensive line certainly took a step in the right direction and with the personnel changes things are looking up, but the key now is to keep Jay Cutler standing up because how much more can his body and brain take?
