Braxton Jones exited the Bears’ game on Sunday, and the severity of his injury suggested a lengthy absence would be forthcoming. The third-year left tackle is indeed facing a long road to recovery. 
Jones had his left leg placed in an air cast before being carted off the field during Chicago’s loss to Detroit. Further examination is required at this point, but the initial indications point to a season-ending injury. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports Jones is believed to have suffered a fractured ankle.
Per Rapoport, Jones is currently thought to have suffered a break in his fibula, but not his tibia. While that diagnosis could of course change based on further testing, a four-month recovery timeline is now in place. At a minimum, the 25-year-old will not be available for the Bears’ final two games this season. Jones will indeed undergo season-ending surgery, per Scott Bair of the Marquee Sports Network.
Jones has operated as Chicago’s starter on the blindside since arriving as a rookie. The former fifth-rounder has remained consistent in terms of PFF evaluation throughout his career, ranking 19th amongst qualified tackles in overall grade in 2022. That matches where Jones currently ranks this season, one which has been defined in no small part for the Bears by an inability to consistently provide strong blocking up front. Jones has been charged with five sacks and 26 pressures allowed, but his absence will be felt to close out the campaign.
Kiran Amegadjie is in an option to take over blindside duties in the wake of Jones’ absence. The third-round rookie has seen 126 total snaps in 2024, all at the left tackle spot. Amegadjie got the nod for Week 15 against the Vikings with Jones out due to a concussion, but he struggled in that contest. Overall, quarterback Caleb Williams has taken a league-leading 60 sacks partially due to the Bears’ struggles along the O-line.
That unit will be the subject of considerable scrutiny this offseason, and few certainties exist up front for Chicago heading into 2025. Jones has one more year remaining on his rookie contract, meaning he will be eligible for an extension shortly. Regardless of if he receives one, he will not be on the field again until next year.
That unit will be the subject of considerable scrutiny? No kidding. The real question is why wasn’t it until now? The two major FA signings were Nate Davis and Ryan Bates which were both horrible failures.They need to sign a really good FA Tackle no matter what it costs. Then their first 4 draft picks need to be O Lineman. That unit needs to be remade. They also need to draft a stud RB. Swift needs to be a 3rd down back. Johnson is proving to be brittle. Funny but the best guy they had was Herbert and they traded him for nothing. There’s still a lot of work to do on this team, But the first thing is finding the best HC and GM tandem they can find. Poles has had as many misses as hits and now he’s whining. Maybe it’s time to see if Ian Cunningham and Ben Johnson are the right tandem for the job, I averaged watching 18 minutes for the last 3 games before I switched over to watching Worlds Dumbest reruns on my DVR. It’s the same thing. It all went wrong when Eberflus was asked to be invited back and now he’s failed 2 First Round QB’s. One dumb move after another. They need to start over from the GM on down AT THE SAME TIME for just once in my lifetime. And that’s getting shorter at 68.
I certainly understand your frustration. No rational Bears fan will disagree this is a joke of an organization. But just to acknowledge some of your points. Finding a quality starting tackle is difficult. The good ones, the young ones almost never make it to free agency. That will hopefully come in the draft. Maybe Kelvin Banks.No doubt the draft will be another key year. Currently the Bears will have 4 picks in the top 75. One 1st round, 2nd rounders and a 3rd. Hopefully a new GM is pulling the strings. We will see. One current rumor, and to stress rumor, is if Ben Johnson takes the Head Coach gig he’s bringing Ray Agnew as GM as a package deal. Ray is the current Assistant GM with the Lions. Also mentioned is the likely hire of Robert Saleh as D-Coordinator.
Its really hard when Poles decides to not try to fix either the Offensive or Defensive lines on the team as his priority. Poles did not do nearly enough to try to fix the biggest problem on this roster for at least 10 years now: The O line, that and paying Sweat all that money only to disappear this season and seeing him also think that Walker, who looks like an interior lineman, playing DE.
The problem now is that people should have little faith in Poles as most of his picks now look average at best, mediocre at worst. The coaching decisions as well, the general quit of this roster for the past 7 games too.
I think The book on Poles is written, yeah some of his picks looked good on a bad roster, but now that the bar has been raised many have disappeared or just look mediocre and given up. Stevenson is a joke, was hoping he would grow out of that, but did not. Cost them a game, and now has been sulking for the rest of the season.. Should be traded to someone loopy enough to think he will grow up.
Johnson was paid like a top corner, and has not looked like it at all.. should be traded .
Sweat looked great last season and was a needed kick in the pants for the D to finish strong, but got his deal done and abracadabra, disappeared.
Never mind the aforementioned Davis and Bates. Brisker is MIA as well. The bad coaching the decision and the lack of a quick response after Eberflus called out his captains for speaking only to watch the entire D give up in the next game. Fired Eberflus WAY too late, and cost the Bears any chance of salvaging the season. Now the interim coach is like” why play the younger guys, we need to win games” ughh.. Nothing like trying to win yourself out of a good draft pick (saw too much of that with Lovie when he was coaching the Bears)
never mind not drafting O linemen until he found a good one (and no Jones is not, he is average at best). Not drafting a three technique this team desperately needed (sorry Dexter is Ok, maybe above average at best)
Braxton Jones would be a great 3rd Tackle. He could fill in on both sides. You need a stud at LT. Wright is decent at RT or can he be a LT? We should be finding out these last 2 games don’t ya think? Should be seeing what they have in Ricky Stromberg. I really liked him coming out of college. He should know the offense by now. Essentially since it mostly goes backwards. You need DT’s but you can get those in FA cheaper than OT’s. You can also get a stud RB in FA. Last year saw Saquon and Derrick Henry. Both are going foe 2000 yards. Where was Poles? Oh yeah signing Swift who is basically a 3rd down back. And trading for Keenan Allen, Who would have been great if they had an O Line who gave the QB time to throw the ball. Then you fire Eberlose but give the responsibility to the guy you JUST tasked with helping Williams and dump a ton of other crap he’s got to do now. Sorry but Poles handled this whole year like an amateur. He can be excused as far I’m concerned. This is mostly on him. That first round pick has to be the best LT in the draft. Even if they have to add 2026 assets to do it. Amagadjie is bad or injured. he better bulk up this off season or he can go to.
Agreed, Swift is great though, runs right into piles and apparently thinks he is a linebacker. I swear watch a game and see him get the ball and to the left a wide gaping hole you could get a fullback through without being touched and to the right a bunch of guys in a blocking scrub and guess which way he goes? its ones of the other reasons why no running game, He is no Forman that’s for sure. I like Roschon Johnson, but he just gets hurt too much. Allen was a nice pickup for Williams, however Kmet should be his safety valve, not an oft injured veteran, AND Poles gave up a 4th rd pick for him for one season.
Poles basically got his attention deverted by the shiny objects instead of what mattered and it killed him, can we really trust he will not do that this draft again (AND it takes time -seasons-to develop the Linemen as well)
Poles should be gone, but with Warren as the president now, Im not sure he would pick a better GM. The Bears are once again in limbo and thats the worst place a franchise can be in. I mean look at many of the bad teams this season. The common thread? All with BAD ownership. Poles should be gone, but I mean who else is out there that could be trusted to build it right?
I would take the first GM candidate that came in and said #1 priority: Fix the O line no matter what as it makes everyone else look better on Offense, 2nd priority? D line, see reasons above. I mean I guess DB Johnson can get a bit of a pass, the Bears pass rush has been largely non existent this season, making it harder for the DBs.
You have one right in the building. Ian Cunningham is well respected in the League and came from the Eagles. He’s worth a shot. He’s interviewed a lot of times for GM openings and lost out ti Poles. Cunningham learned fro Howie Roseman. Can’t get a better pedigree than that. He’ll probably leave here rather than be an Asst Gm again with these morons.
By hiring within the Bears will save money on air fare flying in potential GM’s. When they were interviewing Head Coaches after Nagy was fired they were flying in potential Head Coaches for interviews on economy seats. That’s a fact. Unbelievable! Other organizations were chartering private jets or using their own private\corporate jets. They will likely take the easy\cheap by road by hiring Cunningham if Poles is fired. Just go ahead and keep Thomas Brown as Head Coach. And yeah…there’s likely a good reason after interviewing the last 2 years Cunningham is still with the Bears.
Again, easy and cheap.Just like the Cubs when they replaced Theo with Jed.
I don’t entirely agree with all the haters of the Bears’ O-line. Their starters are adequate according to PFF’s grading, with Jones & Wright in the top 18 of all OTs, especially in pass blocking. Center Coleman Shelton is top 16, as is Tevin Jenkins among all Guards. Even Pryor grades out well in pass blocking. Their depth is non-existent, with obvious misses on Bates, Borom, & Amegadje. Curhan & Bill Murray showed a bit of promise.
More than half of their 60 sacks are coverage or Caleb issues. Things have gotten better as the year has gone on, with the OC change & their line health improved. Granted, I fully support investing high draft picks on lineman (like a first for Tyler Booker to replace Tevin and a 2nd invested in RG). They have their developmental Center already on the practice squad, Ricky Stromberg from Ark, who was signed after WAS released him and better than any prospect in the upcoming draft, save for Texas’ center who could go in the 2nd.
It takes years to build a great line, requiring scouting, high picks, strength & conditioning, practicing technique & a bit of luck. The coaching has been atrocious, so that must be fixed first, but their personnel is not entirely horrible, just very thin and underdeveloped in front of a developing QB. D-line more of a problem outside of Dexter, Sweat & Billingsley.
You know, I guess the keyword is ‘adequate’ but ‘Adequate’ is not ‘good’ I keep hearing stats like this, but then I watch the games. An atrocious running game, and again not solely on the line, but still how many times have the Bears gotten stuffed in 3rd and 4th and short, and goal line, situations (or dumb dumb DUMB penalties like Shelton false starting and hiking the ball when no one was ready)?
I get that Williams is making rookie mistakes, namely holding onto the ball too long, but at the same time I see guys coming free at him, and guys running right around linemen, or pushing them into Williams a LOT. So I take any stats with a huge grain of salt as they do not tell the whole story OR
I guess the argument then about the O-line stats is apparently every QB the Bears get is horrible?
My point is more that their Oline starters, taken as a whole, are better than league average starters across each of the front five, putting them clearly in the top half in the league. However, their depth, coaching, scheme & play calling are essentially league worst.
I really think it has to do more with receivers bunching or plays becoming to predictable (causing Caleb to hesitate); Flus’ failures directing the game flow; as well as Waldron’s changes to their run blocking schemes & personnel that had worked well last year.
They have to get the next hire right, which imo requires firing Poles and synching the GM, HC and OC with Caleb. Failure to do so this offseason will likely result in Poles getting fired in Caleb’s third year, continuing their laughably stupid pattern of organizational ineptitude. And no more ties to Trace Armstrong(!), who prevented Eberflus from getting fired last season AND persuaded them into hiring Waldron. That guy should have to answer to Bears fans…it wouldn’t be pretty.
What part of the Bears organization isn’t fractured?
I hear the office cleaning crew is top notch. With all the vomit they have to clean up.