Bears right tackle Larry Borom ‘held his own’ in first career start

LAKE FOREST — As soon as trainers cleared Larry Borom to walk on his sprained ankle, he began walking through his technique and his pass sets in his living room. It was slow motion, half speed, but it was all he could do.

The Bears rookie offensive tackle, a fifth-round draft pick out of Missouri, took videos of his work and sent them back to offensive line coach Juan Castillo for critique.

“[He was] just simulating that so when he came back, he wouldn’t be that far behind,” Castillo said Monday. “To me, that’s what’s special, and I felt like he wasn’t that far behind because of all the work that he had been doing.”

Borom, 22, had been sidelined since Week 1 because of an ankle injury he sustained in the season opener. He returned to practice Wednesday and had three practices to work his way back into the lineup. The Bears saw enough positives that they felt comfortable starting Borom at right tackle Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.

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For Borom, his first taste of an NFL regular season game, 15 snaps against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 1, was hardly enough to get his feet wet. The injury stopped his season in its tracks. He missed six games on injured reserve.

“[I was] just pushing myself mentally and physically to get back in that game shape,” Borom said. “I’ve been just trying to do a lot while I was hurt to just try and maintain what I can.”

In the meantime, the Bears were desperate for someone to step up at right tackle.

First, they lost starter Germain Ifedi to a knee injury in Week 5. Elijah Wilkinson stepped in and performed well. But Wilkinson went on the COVID-19 reserve list hours before a Week 7 game against Tampa Bay, forcing the team to start Lachavious Simmons with little preparation. The result was two strip sacks for the Buccaneers defense, and Simmons was benched in favor of backup Alex Bars.

With Borom in the fold, the hope is there will be no more disasters like the Bucs game. Borom’s first career start was no easy task. Bears head coach Matt Nagy said San Francisco’s Pro Bowl pass rusher Nick Bosa lined up primarily on the left side on all the film they watched. The 49ers appeared to like Bosa’s chances against the rookie tackle and moved him to the right side more frequently Sunday.

Borom “held his own,” according to Nagy.

“Larry did a wonderful job,” Nagy said Monday. “We put in him in that situation, you’ve got to credit him for working his butt off to get back to have the opportunity to play.”

Bosa wound up with two sacks in the game (bringing his season total to seven), but one came against sixth lineman Alex Bars, not Borom. The other was a third-quarter sack that Borom got beat on, but really it was a failed scramble attempt by quarterback Justin Fields. Bosa was credited with the sack, but he wasn’t the first defender to reach Fields.

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Castillo said Borom’s ability to square himself up against a defender is a sign that he could be a long-term answer at the tackle position. It sounds easy to stay square, but when 250-pound pass rushers are closing within seconds, it can be hard to play square on snap after snap.

Castillo truly believes those half-speed reps at home really helped Borom in that area.

“You can do 50 reps of just doing this, but what is it doing to your body?” Castillo said. “It’s becoming natural, even though you’re not going full speed.”

Castillo said injured tackle Teven Jenkins is doing the same thing at home. Jenkins has been out since August with a back injury. The hope is that Jenkins and Borom are the tackles of the future in Chicago.

Borom took a promising first step toward holding up his end of the bargain Sunday.

“Really just got to stay true to your technique, fundamentals, all the little things,” Borom said. “All that stuff matters.”