A 27-3 win against Cincinnati in the preseason can safely be considered a success.
It’s better than losing.
But was it really a success for the Bears in terms of preparing for the regular season?
Sure, Caleb Williams had more snaps and plays than you can imagine when he played in the first half, but the reason he was still playing at halftime seemed to have more to do with the offense’s mistakes earlier in the game.
“No, that was the range we had,” coach Matt Eberflus replied. “We don’t go into it and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to play a quarter or a quarter and a half.’ That doesn’t work. The way you do it is you say, ‘Hey, we’re going to play a series of series and a series of plays,’ and then you see the ebb and flow of the game and the guys can play until we as a group say, ‘OK, that’s good.’ I’m the ultimate decision maker, but we like to do it that way.”
OK, so they had a number of plays, but if they had success earlier, you can bet Eberflus would have taken Williams off the court.
They must be a little unhappy with a 24-point win because let’s face it, when the first team plays against reserve players they should be much more consistent. They completely lacked that in attack and they only seemed to move the ball sporadically, through a big broken play here from Williams or there from Rome Odunze and also because they were second and third team defenders.
The Bears had their backup receivers on the field, or at least their third and fourth receivers, but they also had the first team offensive line to block and a starting lineup-quality running back on the field.
This is how the Bears performed in their third preseason game.
Passing game: B-
Tyson Bagent and Brett Rypien showed some of the necessary targeting after reading the defense, while Williams looked for potential big shots, drifted around or ran wild in the pocket to catch a receiver breaking open in the secondary. When he was at USC, that was called a “hero ball,” but at this level, it’s more of a “panic ball.” He made the one big deep pass to Rome Odunze for 45 yards on a difficult pass since he’s a right-handed player who moves left. And he had Tyler Scott completely free when he gave the Bears a 43-yard gain by interference flag after a catch in the secondary. The Bears had five completions of 22-plus yards, but only one between 12 and 22 yards. It’s difficult to move chains over medium distances without those completions. A 5-of-12 performance for 30 yards doesn’t sound impressive at all, but that was Williams without the 45-yard pass to Odunze. Williams’ passer rating of 64.6 compared to 151.6 for Tyson Bagent and 116.7 for Brett Rypien says it all.
Running game: C+
Khalil Herbert had one or two early runs with ill-advised cuts where he could have done more if he had followed the blocking scheme, but as the game went on he seemed to develop a better sense of where the gaps were. That was to be expected as Herbert, like any running back, is better with more runs. Run blocking generally looked better inside this game than when they tried to go outside the zone and go to the perimeter. It’s hard to say much positive about the offensive line when they couldn’t even average 4.0 yards per carry against backups.
Velus Jones Jr. deserves some credit for looking like a running back, rather than a wide receiver acting like a running back. He put his head down and moved the ball forward on a 7-yard run. That was as good an inside run at the point of attack as any of the Bears’ regular running backs this preseason. Overall, though, he barely improved his running numbers, with six runs for 13 yards. Week 2 running hero Ian Wheeler also had little to gain, with 4 yards on two attempts.
Pass defense: A-
Ultimately, it’s difficult to assign blame when not much was done wrong. A 50.7 passer rating against Logan Woodside and Rocky Lombardi is about what you’d expect from a third and fourth quarterback against mediocre defenses, let alone one with high ambitions like the Bears. Kyler Gordon made a huge difference in their secondary, whether covering or blitzing out of the slot to force an interception. It was a team thing because when Gordon left, Josh Blackwell took his place and had a blindside sack. The secondary seems set for the season, but they need to get Jaquan Brisker healthy again. The pass rush has been reliant on blitzing because they haven’t been getting passes like they need to with the front four.
Run defense: B
This was about as consistent as any team ran against the Bears defense in the preseason, with 82 yards against the defense and a 3.3-yard average. It had far less impact than the play-action game the Bengals successfully used against the Bears defense. Even then, the Bengals had one pass that was longer than 15 yards.
Special teams: A-
Both field goals and their execution went smoothly in the rain or on a wet field, including a 51-yard field goal. The Bears’ kick and punt coverage units were excellent, holding six returns to the 20-yard line or less. The only thing the Bears did wrong all game on special teams was the ball that Elijah Hicks could have caught at the 2 but was on the goal line when he handballed it with his foot.
Coaching: B
Even in a preseason game and with rookie Caleb Williams in his second start, it’s not easy to understand how Shane Waldron’s offense could pull off three three-and-outs in a row. By chance, you’d think they could get a first down. The blitz look from the slot was well executed and designed with both the regular season and this game in mind.
Total: B
At some stages of play in the last two preseason games, it seemed like they weren’t going to improve as much as they actually did. Since their second preseason game, bringing in some healthier defensive players and coaches have kept this mini-rebuild moving in the right direction while continuing to incorporate as much talent as possible.
Twitter: BearsOnSI
