Through nearly the first two months of the 2026 NFL season, two things appear to be true:
1. No interior offensive line group has been worse than the Green Bay Packers, and;
2. No interior defensive lineman has been playing better than Jeffery Simmons.
As fate would have it, of course the Chicago Bears just struck a blockbuster deal to acquire Simmons with the November 10 trade deadline looming. The Bears have officially added a player to their defensive front the Packers don't have any answers for.
Bears' Jeffery Simmons trade could expose the Packers' interior offensive line even more
Jeffery Simmons is an awesome player and also happens to line up at a position where the current #Packers is the weakest in its OL.
— Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) October 29, 2026
Not great, Bob.
Recently, Lombardi Ave's Freddie Boston did an outstanding job pointing out just how dire the offensive line situation has been for the Packers so far in the 2026 season. Especially now, it feels like adding a player of Quenton Nelson's caliber to the guard position would have been wise, but the Seahawks made it happen.
Not only have the Packers struggled running the ball this season (which everybody already knows), but Jordan Love has also been hit an egregious 51 times in the first seven games of the season. He's getting hit at least seven times per game on average, and now the Packers are going to have to deal with Jeffery Simmons at least one more time this season (Christmas).
The addition of Laken Tomlinson has at least brought some stability to the guard position for the Packers, but the rest of the offensive line still needs to step it up. The urgency is only ramping up knowing that a player like Nelson was there for the taking.
There might only be one more matchup between the Packers and Bears on the schedule for the regular season, but both of these teams have the same end goal in mind: Win it all.
The Packers have made plenty of moves to indicate that their chips are all-in. They haven't lacked aggressiveness when it comes to making moves, and teams will soon have to have an answer for Micah Parsons when he returns to the field.
But the entire operation can be completely wrecked if something happens to Jordan Love. The Packers have already shown that they understand the urgency to better protect Love by making moves to get Tomlinson, Kevin Zeitler, and Mekhi Becton. Even so, the idea of having to face Simmons (after he's had a couple of months to acclimate to the Chicago defense) is terrifying with the way Green Bay's offensive line has played so far this season.
It puts even more pressure on the Packers over this next handful of games. They have to take care of their own business and hope the reshuffled offensive line can gel as the season marches on.
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