Sam Mustipher is not used to being benched. It never came close to happening during his time at Notre Dame. Then after his successful ascent in 2021, he was confident he’d carve out a role as a starter moving forward. So it was a shock when the coaching staff elected to sit him down. It wasn’t a good feeling. He wasn’t happy about it. Luckily for him, he got a stroke of good fortune when Lucas Patrick went down with his season-ending toe injury. That opened the door for him to get one more chance.
While nobody would call his last several games elite, it’s hard to deny he has played better than earlier this season. Mustipher resumed the starting center role in week eight. Before that, he’d allowed 11 pressures and a sack in seven games. Since then, he’s allowed four pressures in the last six games. He hasn’t done it against second-rate competition. This run included games against the Cowboys, Lions, Jets, and Packers. All have strong interior defensive fronts. So what changed? Mustipher told Adam Hoge of CHGO that it came from a wake-up call in October against Giants nose tackle Dexter Lawrence.
“Dexter Lawrence is an animal. But my job is to help the Bears win football games so in 1-on-1 situations with that guy, I gotta be able to block him,” Mustipher said. “And so I tried to clean up and tailor my pass set to when I’m going to face the best guys in the NFL. It’s still a work in progress, but that’s something I’ve been focusing on.”
Lawrence feasted on him in that game, pressuring Fields six times, including a sack. Mustipher was utterly overmatched. That was the first time he realized how flawed his pass sets were against bigger and stronger defenders. Hence why he put in extra work to fine-tune his technique. It appears to have yielded promising results. It might not be enough to save his job, but it’s enough to justify keeping him in place for the rest of 2022. Fields trusts him, and the line has played better in recent weeks. His teammates believe in him.
Yes, the Bears need to find an upgrade at center. Guys like Kenny Clark have routinely killed them every year because they haven’t found somebody in the middle who can dominate. If they want Fields to take the next step, Sam Mustipher can’t be their guy. He is the epitome of a perfect backup. He is smart, tough, and talented enough to hold his own against most non-elite defensive tackles. His future in Chicago may depend on what the Bears do about Lucas Patrick and possible center options in the draft.
