Bear Digest

Is Playing Kiran Amegadjie Looking Out for Caleb Williams' Health?

The Bears could have used veteran Larry Borom at left tackle but decided to let Kiran Amegadjie have the start, putting Caleb Williams' fate in the hands of an untested rookie.

Gene Chamberlain

Finding ways to keep QB Caleb Williams protected is critical for the Bears in the final three games after Monday's loss to the Vikings.
Finding ways to keep QB Caleb Williams protected is critical for the Bears in the final three games after Monday's loss to the Vikings. / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
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It's no time to simply look at younger players even with the Bears eliminated, says interim head coach Thomas Brown.

Perhaps Kiran Amegadjie's situation explains it better than anything else.

What the inexperienced players do on the field can affect the safety of quarterback Caleb Williams, if not others. However, playing too many inexperienced players can also hurt Brown's chances of losing the interim title and becoming permanent head coach, if that's even possible after two blowout losses.

The Bears third-round rookie tackle might be better prepared now if called upon moving forward, but in that case he would probably have more than a day to prepare himself for the start than he had against Minnesota in Monday's 30-12 loss.

"Yeah, I mean, I think you’re talking about 25 hours before a game starts, it’s not our time to make an adjustment like that," coach Thomas Brown said on Tuesday. "Kiran had been getting into the rotation behind Braxton. Still feel good about some of those reps.

"Obviously, moving forward, if a guy has more opportunities to practice and have reps with that, I feel really good about his growth and development. But also it’s a tough environment for anyone to make his first start on the road in a loud environment versus a defense that rushes the passer pretty good."

Amegadjie had little or no advance warning because left tackle Braxton Jones reported his concussion-like symptoms on Sunday, the day before the game.

Amegadjie allowed a strip-sack to Caleb Williams and committed four penalties, including two holding penalties.

However, Amegadjie wasn't the only option available. The Bears could have started veteran backup Larry Borom or even Jake Curhan.

Brown was asked Tuesday whether he had to do it because GM Ryan Poles had said the rookie needed to get his first start.

"As far as the collaboration between Ryan and I, we’re always doing a good job communicating about what’s best for our football team," Brown said, leaving it at that.

Now, they'll need to bolster the rookie's confidence because it might be on him to rebound against the Detroit Lions Sunday at Soldier Field.

"I think it starts first with the message that I gave myself and everybody else," Brown said. "Regardless of what’s going on, first and foremost, ignore the outside noise because people have a lot of comments with no solutions, a lot of problems with no answers.

"So, I have full faith and belief in his abilities as a person. He continued to battle throughout the entire night. Just got to find ways to get some better answers at times. We got to help him out better from a pass protection standpoint. But to me, it’s about being consistent with the message, continue to find ways with him. He’ll be fine."

The performance by Amegadjie has no bearing one way or other on whether the Bears decide to look at young, inexperienced players in the final three games.

That's because they're not going to do it, regardless of what happens.

"Not at all," Brown said. "I think the focus every week is trying to find ways to put the best roster together and have the best schemes in all three phases and find ways to be productive and win football games."

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.