Rams must be licking their chops ahead of facing this former teammate

Coleman Shelton has been the weak link of a struggling Bears offensive line

The Los Angeles Rams will see a familiar face this weekend when they face the Chicago Bears, and their interior defensive line must be licking their chops in anticipation of the matchup.

Coleman Shelton, who started the majority of the 2022 and 2023 seasons for LA, is now Chicago’s center in front of quarterback Caleb Williams. Unfortunately for Williams, he’s been pressured on 31% of his drop backs to start his career. While Chicago’s pass protection struggles don’t fall on the shoulders of a single individual, it’s clear that Shelton has been the weak link on the Bears’ offensive line over the team’s first three games.

A veteran center and reliable pass protection can be a stabilizing presence for a young quarterback, but it’s been tough sledding for the start of Williams’ career so far.

These are the starting five linemen for Chicago followed by their run and pass blocking grades and pressures allowed according to Pro Football Focus (PFF):

LT – Braxton Jones; 61.9, 73.0, 7 pressures

LG – Teven Jenkins; 63.0, 69.4, 5 pressures

C – Coleman Shelton; 65.9, 58.0, 8 pressures

RG – Matt Pryor*; 61.6, 67.9, 2 pressures

RT – Darnell Wright; 65.8, 63.4, 9 pressures

*Ryan Bates entered the season as the starting right guard and is now on injured reserve. Nate Davis was the next man up but was replaced in the starting lineup by Pryor ahead of Week 3.

The Bears aren’t creating much room on the ground for their running backs either. Chicago has 61 rushing attempts through three games for a total of 151 yards (2.48 average). Williams is just one yard shy of being the team’s leading rusher at 67 yards while prized free agent addition D’Andre Swift is at 68 yards on 37 carries (1.80 average).

One of the major questions facing Williams coming out of the college game was whether he could play within the structure of an offense, as he was often asked to be a superhuman during his time at USC. A lack of rushing production puts even more weight on Williams’ shoulders as he adjusts to the professional level, and in turn the rookie QB is second in the NFL in drop backs with 136. Deshaun Watson is in first place with 141, and for the sake of comparison Matthew Stafford, who’s played three full games with the Rams, has dropped back 111 times.

It’s clear that Caleb Williams has not had an ideal start to his career, and the Bears deserve a sizeable portion of blame for the poor support system they’ve developed around him.

Their offensive line struggles in pass protection. They splurged on a running back in free agency only for him to gain less than two yards every time he’s handed the ball. Their rookie quarterback is being asked to drop back at a rate that nearly leads the NFL. It’s a team failure on offense across the board.

The fortunate news for the Rams defense is that they have also had a slow start to the new season. For all of their own problems, this weekend’s game against Chicago is a chance to get on track. A favorable matchup versus a former teammate in Coleman Shelton should be a a chance for a young interior defensive line to shine.