Bars was a member of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for five seasons.[1] He spent his freshman year on the scout team before playing in six games with two starts as a sophomore. He started all 12 of Notre Dame's games at right tackle as a junior and all 13 games of his senior year at left guard.[2][3] Bars returned as a graduate student for a fifth season of NCAA eligibility and was named a preseason All-American by the Sporting News, but tore his MCL and ACL five games into the season against Stanford.[4] Over the course of his college career, Bars played in 36 games with 32 starts.[5]
Bars signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent on May 2, 2019.[8] Bars was waived at the end of training camp during final roster cuts, but was re-signed to the team's practice squad on September 1, 2019.[9][10] The Bears promoted Bars to the active roster on October 15, 2019.[11] He made his NFL debut on November 28, 2019, against the Detroit Lions.[12] Bars played in five games during his rookie season.[13]
Bars made his first career start on November 8, 2020, in a 17–24 loss to the Tennessee Titans, lining up at center despite having never played the position and playing all 77 of the Bears' offensive snaps.[14] Bars played in all 16 regular season games and started the last eight with one start at center, one start at left guard and six starts at right guard.[15] He signed a contract extension with the team on March 3, 2021.[16]
Las Vegas Raiders
On March 27, 2022, Bars signed a one-year contract with the Las Vegas Raiders.[17] He was waived on August 30, 2022.[18] On September 6, 2022, Bars was signed to the practice squad.[19]
Bars was elevated to the active roster on September 17, 2022, for the week 2' game against the Arizona Cardinals[20] and on September 24, 2022, for the week 3' game against the Tennessee Titans[21] and on both cases was then reverted to the practice squad the next day. On October 1, 2022, the Raiders signed Bars to active roster from the practice squad.[22]
On March 30, 2023, Bars re–signed with Las Vegas.[23] On August 29, Bars was released by the Raiders.[24]
