5 things to watch in Bears-Bills preseason game, including Caleb Williams’ debut under Ben Johnson and Tyson Bagent’s continued growth
Let’s see how the team looks against the Bills.
The Chicago Bears are gearing up for the second game of the preseason slate, this time taking on the Buffalo Bills on the home turf at Soldier Field.
After ending the preseason opener against the Miami Dolphins in a tie, the Bears are still looking to pull off the first win in the Ben Johnson Era.
Unlike the first preseason game, the Bears are set to play the starters this weekend against the Bills, including quarterback Caleb Williams, so that the offense can get a taste of live game situations. So, let’s breakdown the Top-5 things to watch for on Sunday night.
Keeping A Clean Offensive Operation
The only real thing to watch from the starting unit is how things go pre-snap. Are the players getting out of the huddle and lined up in a timely manner? Are players lining up in the proper spots? After the snap, I’ll be watching to see how Williams does handling pressure and getting the ball out.
But, priority one needs to be having an all-around clean operation, and that extends to the backups as well that will eventually fill in.
“Any time that’s happening, that’s unacceptable,” offensive coordinator Declan Doyle said. “That’s not our standard. Whoever — if they’re wearing a Bears uniform, that can’t happen… There are elements of that that are, you know, it’s preseason. But that’s an excuse. That has to get right, and that’s something that we need to address right now.”
Tracking A Left Tackle Battle That Isn’t Slowing Down
In the preseason opener, we got to see Braxton Jones, Ozzy Trapilo, and Theo Benedet take snaps at left tackle as the staff continues to assess the best possible starter for this offense.
Jones started the game and played 24 offensive snaps allowing one sack and two total pressures. Trapilo entered the game next and ended up playing a total of 37 snaps allowing zero sacks and one pressure. The one name we didn’t see mixing in was second-year tackle Kiran Amegadjie, who was dealing with a leg injury that forced him to miss the game before returning this week in practice.
Throughout the week, Benedet started getting mixed in with the first-team offense, along with Jones. Amegadjie played with the 3’s while Trapilo took second-team reps at right tackle. Clearly, this battle still has a long way to go and the staff is eager to see what all these players can show on tape.
“The tape doesn’t lie,” Doyle said. “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 incomplete evaluation thus far. We still have a lot of football left to play.”
Continued Growth From Tyson Bagent
After getting the start in the preseason opener with Williams and the majority of the starters out, quarterback Tyson Bagent didn’t get off on the best foot.
The unit opened the game with two three-and-outs but then bounced back on the third drive with Bagent leading the team down to the goal-line and scoring a touchdown on fourth-down. Bagent’s fourth drive ended with a tipped interception. On the fifth drive, he bounced back from it again hitting rookie WR Luther Burden III on a drag to set up a field goal going into the half.
Overall, Bagent had some plays he’d like back, but his response to the negative plays showed a lot of growth for the young backup and left an encouraging impressions going into the second game.
“I really liked how he responded to not the start that we wanted, whether it was a high pass here or getting backed up or protection issue, whatever it was, there are a lot of things that go on in a football game,” fellow quarterback Case Keenum said. “He responded. He stayed the course. He wasn’t freaking out. He just stayed the course, and that was really good.”
Finding More Success On The Ground
Something I was impressed by in the preseason opener was the level of success the Bears had running the football and the lanes being created up-front, by a number of different players.
Really only three backs handled the load against the Dolphins in Kyle Monangai, Deion Hankins, and Ian Wheeler with D’Andre Swift sitting out and Roschon Johnson dealing with a foot injury. Monangai impressed with his ability to break tackles and lower his shoulder. The same goes for Hankins, who even caught a pass for a touchdown. And with Wheeler, it was great to see him back in action and showing off the speed coming off a torn ACL suffered last preseason.
Having a similar outcome on the ground this week against the Bills can show the Bears really have something brewing here on the ground. Getting Johnson back on the field would be huge as well to continue evaluating how the touches will be split in the regular season.
More Push From The Interior
Against the Dolphins, the Bears edge rushers had a solid outing led by 3.0 sacks from second-year defensive end Austin Booker and another sack by Dominique Robinson.
On the interior, Zacch Pickens is the only one who really played decent recording three pressures and one sack. Now that we know the edge rushers can collapse the pocket, I’m looking to see a similar level of production from the pass rushers inside.
The goes with the run game after seeing the linebackers shine last weekend. Although it doesn’t help Gervon Dexter Sr., Grady Jarrett, Andrew Billings, and Shemar Turner (who’s dealing with an ankle injury) didn’t play. Maybe things change this week.
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