The five Bears linemen took their stances with Cody Whitehair lining up at his Pro Bowl position of center and James Daniels back in his 2018 spot at left guard. The switch between Whitehair and Daniels was part of coach Matt Nagy supporting his declaration that the Bears' offensive struggles went beyond quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. The Bears debuted their remade offensive line Sunday in a 20-13 win over the Lions at Soldier Field.
The Bears switched Whitehair to left guard and Daniels to center in the offseason. They did so with confidence that Daniels could handle a center's responsibilities and Whitehair would be even better at left guard. Halfway through this season with a sputtering offense, the Bears had seen enough.
The Bears realized that the 22-year-old Daniels, a second-round pick in 2018, was struggling with the calls that come with being a center, and they believed that Whitehair's familiarity with Trubisky would benefit the offense.
The Bears declined to acknowledge the switch until they took the field for warmups Sunday. Trubisky finished 16-of-23 for 173 yards and three touchdowns as the Bears snapped their four-game losing streak.
"Cody does a great job," Trubisky said. "Having him back there, he's a really big leader for this offense and this offensive line. He's really good with communicating, helping those young guys to the sides of him now. We have really good chemistry.
"He gives me confidence. We just got to keep feeding off of that. When he's in the middle, his communication, how he leads the guys, I think it really helps the offense and guys feed off that."
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Daniels declined to address the reasoning that he was given for the switch, deferring instead to his coaches. He felt his eight games at center were "good." When he learned of the position change, Daniels focused on re-establishing his assignments in the A gap with Whitehair and B gap with left tackle Charles Leno Jr.
Whitehair's return to center included several poor shotgun snaps. He pointed to the rust as part of why he struggled at times. The Bears' starting center since from 2016 to 2018, Whitehair hadn't snapped a football since the Pro Bowl back in January before learning of the move this week.
Whitehair worked on his snaps before and after practice at Halas Hall last week.
"Obviously there were a few plays I want back," Whitehair said. "But moving forward, I think it will become second nature for me. I mastered it last year. I think I can do it again this year.
"It was just getting back into the routine of things. But it will get better as we go."
Daniels also admitted the adjustment proved to be challenging.
"I just have to work at it," Daniels said. "No, it's not easy. It's not easy switching position within seven days."
The Bears reversed course on their decision after they accepted the fact that their offense had become one of the worst in the NFL. On Sunday, the Whitehair-Daniels position switch wasn't at the center of the Bears' victory, but it played a part in getting their offense closer to some solutions.
"We just got to build off it and keep getting better," Trubisky said.