Center has been a source of frustration for the Chicago Bears for much of the past decade. Cody Whitehair had some good stretches during his time on the job, but he never quite overcame his consistency issues in pass protection. Lucas Patrick and Sam Mustipher didn’t provide any solutions either. It was hoped this year might be different. GM Ryan Poles brought in two veterans to compete for the job. The Bears traded for Ryan Bates from Buffalo and signed Coleman Shelton in free agency.
Shelton has more actual snaps at the position, having helped the Rams reach the playoffs last year. Bates might be the better overall talent, but he doesn’t have many starts at center. Most of his career has been spent as a guard. Making matters more difficult is the injury to Nate Davis. As he keeps missing practices, it’s forced Bates to spend more time at right guard while Shelton handles center. However, there is another problem the team is trying to work around. Matt Eberflus explained it at his recent presser. It seems both men snap the ball quite differently.
“Under center (it’s) not a big deal, surprisingly. And then the spins are what’s a little bit different, what (the quarterback has to) get used to. One comes back as a knuckle, one spins it. So (the quarterbacks) have to get used to it with each guy. But if we’re preparing for the week, a game week, they’re going to get used to that, it’s pretty easy to get used to but when it’s series by series, you got to make sure, ‘OK, here, he’s the guy that spins it. This is the guy that knuckles it.’ So that’s really the major difference.”
It appears that the constant alternating has made it difficult to handle the snaps. Additionally, there is some confusion along the interior, which has led to frequent false start penalties. Much of this might come down to Caleb Williams’ personal preferences. He’s the starting quarterback. His opinion will carry a lot of weight in this decision since he’s the one who will be receiving the snaps. Does he prefer the guy with spin or the knuckleball? It may come down to who offers better protection, and Williams will just deal with the occasional snap miscues.
Truth be told, it feels like the Chicago Bears have installed a temporary solution to the problem. Poles admitted it is difficult to fix every roster issue in one off-season. As much as he wanted to find a long-term solution at center, he felt giving Williams as many weapons as possible was a bigger priority. Shelton and Bates bring experience and flexibility. They should be able to hold the position down for a year until the Bears can go hunting for upgrades in 2025. Until then, it would be best to sort the issue out.
