The San Francisco 49ers have had a solid first year from rookie right tackle Mike McGlinchey. He won’t win rookie of the year, but he is likely to earn an All-Rookie nod at tackle. He’s been strong in the run game and shown improvement over the course of the season in pass protection. We saw it this past weekend against the Seattle Seahawks, where he put together an impressive Pro Football Focus run blocking grade, while allowing a hit and two hurries in 26 pass blocking snaps.
This weekend, McGlinchey and the rest of the 49ers offensive line face a tall order in the Chicago Bears. Khalil Mack is dominating, with 12.5 sacks and 40 hurries. Leonard Floyd brings some pressure on the other side, four sacks and 24 hurries, but Mack is the edge presence of note.
Mack has split his time between the left and right sides of the field. The first four weeks he played primarily on the left side. In Week 6 he played 35 snaps on the left side and 26 on the right side. Starting in Week 7, he played primarily on the right side, but this past week he was back to playing a fairly even mix with 35 snaps on the left and 27 on the right.
Mack will likely play on both sides, but I have to think Vic Fangio will want to challenge McGlinchey regularly. The rookie has been better in run blocking, so it makes sense to bring whatever they can at him in the pass rush.
McGlinchey faced Von Miller two weeks ago, and had some solid success — giving up one pressure on 42 pass blocking snaps. Not too shabby considering how good Miller is. We’ll see if he’s able to have the same kind of success against Mack and Floyd.