As practice started Friday morning and a capacity crowd was still filing in to Halas Hall, general manager Ryan Poles stood alongside coach Matt Eberflus watching the Chicago Bears offensive linemen go through individual drills.
On the other side of the collection of big bodies, assistant general manager Ian Cunningham studied intently as line coach Chris Morgan put players through their paces. For nearly 10 minutes, the top three men in football operations were observing a group that has been under scrutiny all offseason.
The line captured the attention of those in charge this summer. Sometime between the end of veteran minicamp in mid-June and the start of training camp last week, a determination was made that help was needed. It led to the signings of left tackle Riley Reiff, 33, and right guard/right tackle Michael Schofield, 31. Both have an abundance of starting experience, something you could only say about one player the team already had — left guard Cody Whitehair.
