Bears head coach Ben Johnson didn’t set a deadline to select his starting left tackle. There was an obvious preference to have someone in place sooner rather than later, to allow chemistry-building time with left guard Joe Thuney and the others among the starting five.

Yet here we are, three-plus weeks into training camp, with a rotation on the left flank. It started as a three-man cycle, with incumbent Braxton Jones, second-round pick Ozzy Trapilo and second-year pro Kiran Amegadjie.

Theo Benedet got tossed into the first-team mix this week, with Trapilo cross training at right tackle and Amegadjie on the third unit working back from injury.

So, you know, the situation’s murky.

This weekend stretch could provide clarity. Friday’s joint practice versus the Buffalo Bills, followed by Sunday’s preseason game against the reigning AFC East Champions, can provide plenty of evaluation opportunities.

Just tracking it has been odd, with little to glean from who’s playing with what unit to this point.

The Bears are still waiting for someone to take the job over simply giving it away. That hasn’t happened to this point.

“Right now, we have to have somebody established to be clearly better,” offensive line coach Dan Roushar said on Wednesday. “And that’s what we’re working for. Looking for improvement every day and just seeing what our best five are gonna be when we kick it off.”

The Bears kick it off for real on Sept. 8 against the Minnesota Vikings. They’ll have a decision by then, and it needs to be the right one. The team invested heavily in the other four starting spots, banking that the offensive line would be a stabilizing force and a true team strength.

There are also complicating factors at play here. Trapilo’s a rookie with much to learn and no professional game experience. Amegadjie’s also green. The Benedet addition is surprising, but he’s battling for a roster spot that isn’t guaranteed.

Jones is a three-year starter but he’s returning from a significant ankle surgery. While Jones is not 100%, he believes he’s on the right track.

“Each and every day has gotten a little bit better,” Jones said after Sunday’s preseason game versus Miami said. “I feel like, in this 4-5 day block with joint practices (against the Dolphins), it has been the biggest improvement in terms of natural movement and feeling like myself. The joint practice was the point where I felt like, ‘I’m getting the hang of it.’ My body’s getting used to it and I’m feeling the new ankle. It’s an upward trend.”

Roushar didn’t have a positive take on how Jones played.

“I thought on Friday against Miami (in joint practices), in the one on ones…I saw him set with balance,” Roushar said in a meeting with reporters. “His hips were down and he used his length. I saw a player that we can win with. When I watched him Sunday, as I told him, I said, ‘You reverted back to whatever this is for you.’ But that’s not acceptable.

“We have a standard to maintain, and we’ll hold our guys to that standard. Because what he does, or anyone that’s playing left tackle or any other position, effects the entirety of the offense.”

Roushar saw room for improvement from all the Bears’ left tackles and told them so in an offensive line meeting.

Offensive coordinator Declan Doyle said the combatants are starting to separate from each other, though he wouldn’t say which player has a leg up. You can’t read too much into the tea leaves of this, at times, unpredictable rotation in practice. However, Doyle said Monday that these sessions against the Bills will be key.

Johnson said back in July that the Bears won’t rush this process, but a conclusion to this affair could be coming soon.

“The tape doesn’t lie,” Doyle said. “I think that it will become clearer and clearer as time goes on, that one of those guys is going to separate themselves in the eyes of the decision makers, of Ben (Johnson), of our front office, of the O-line coaches, of myself. But, (it’s an) incomplete evaluation thus far. We still have a lot of football left to play.”

Submit your questions below for inclusion in Saturday’s Bears mailbag!!