10 thoughts after the Chicago Bears opened the preseason with a 23-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Saturday at Soldier Field.
They got two short throws from quarterback Justin Fields that went for long touchdowns and eight sacks from seven defenders.
1. A little history was made when the Bears scored on the opening possession.
Three plays. That’s all it took for the Bears to accomplish something that hadn’t happened since at least the late 1990s.
The offense scored an opening-drive touchdown in the preseason opener. Yes, it seems a little narrow, but I spent time flipping through the gamebooks at this time last summer and the Bears hadn’t accomplished the feat since before 2000. That’s at least 22 consecutive preseason openers without an opening-drive touchdown (COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 preseason). Data for preseason games in 1999 and before wasn’t readily searchable.
Justin Fields completed a short pass to fullback Khari Blasingame on the first play from scrimmage for an 11-yard gain. Running back Khalil Herbert ran for 2 yards on the next snap, and then we got an early glimpse of why a lot of folks say new wide receiver DJ Moore looks like a running back with the ball in his hands.
Fields hit Moore on the left side for a wide receiver screen and he was off to the races. Fellow receiver Darnell Mooney made a nice block on cornerback Tre Avery. Left tackle Braxton Jones got out on defensive back Armani Marsh and carefully blocked him from the side to avoid a penalty. From there, a Titans defense that was resting 10 of 11 starters (linebacker Jack Gibbons, an undrafted rookie from Minnesota in 2022, was the only projected starter to play) had no one to impede Moore.
Easy catch and throw for a game-tying touchdown. This is noteworthy from the standpoint that opening-possession drives were one of the few things the Bears excelled at last season beyond running the ball. As Warren Sharp noted in February, the Bears scored on 70.6% of opening drives last season, far and away the best percentage in the NFL. Think about that for a second. The Bears finished 23rd in scoring, averaging 19.2 points, but they were a well-oiled machine right after kickoff.
Obviously credit belongs to offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and his staff for consistently crafting sharp scripts to open the game. I’m not sure that success rate is sustainable this season, but the Bears are better on offense and we got a glimpse, however brief, of that. The offensive starters were on the field for only seven snaps and produced 14 points.
Herbert carried on three consecutive plays to open the second possession, and then Getsy called another screen, this one for Herbert. Cornerback Elijah Molden came screaming up the middle on a blitz as Herbert escaped the backfield to the left. That forced Fields to roll to his left.
In a situation in which last season Fields might have pulled the ball down and run, he gathered himself in time to shoot the ball out to Herbert. With center Cody Whitehair and right guard Ja’Tyre Carter out to block Avery and Marsh, Herbert was gone. There was a clear path down nearly the entire sideline for a 56-yard touchdown.
The Bears have said Herbert has improved in the passing game as a blocker and receiver, and the proof will be in how he’s deployed in games after getting a lot of work in third-down situations and the red zone in practice. In 13 games last season, he had only 12 targets with nine catches for 57 yards. One of the secondary goals for the offense this season is to involve the running backs more in the passing game, making this a positive early sign.
The key, of course, will be for Fields and the offense to take a big leap forward from 2022 after the opening drive, when Sharp noted how abysmal the offense was. With Moore in place, upgrades on the offensive line and at tight end and a deeper stable of running backs, it certainly seems possible.
There’s not too much you can take away from seven snaps by the starters. All three of Fields’ passes were completed behind the line of scrimmage against defenders competing for reserve spots. But Fields looked to throw in a situation in which he might have run last season, and the Bears have more players on the roster who will account for explosive plays in 2023 than just the quarterback.
2. Justin Fields had a short — but successful — day with two touchdowns.
It was a short day of work for Justin Fields, but the coaching staff sent him and the offensive starters (minus wide receiver DJ Moore) back out for a second series after the quick touchdown on the opening drive. Fields said he didn’t lobby for more playing time as the second possession resulted in a score in only four plays.
“We had a set plan and a certain set of plays. Those first few plays, you can’t really draw it up much better than that,” Fields said. “I think we did what we needed to do today, and we’ll get back to practice Monday and continue to practice and continue to get better.”
You can gain a little insight into Fields’ maturation even in a small sample size, especially on the screen pass for a touchdown to Khalil Herbert. It didn’t go exactly as the Bears would have liked at the start.
“It was disrupted,” Fields said. “The guy (Elijah Molden) that was on Khalil’s side blitzed it. Then the other ‘backer (Jack Gibbons) saw him blocking, so he added on too. So that’s why it took a lot longer than normal. The screen usually doesn’t take that long. But of course, when you have a blitzer on his side, he has to bluff a little to run the screen.”
Those early parts of the operation are running smoother. Recall the second week of the 2021 preseason at Soldier Field, when the Buffalo Bills visited and Fields missed identifying the front and was rocked by linebacker Andre Smith for a vicious sack on a pressure that should have been easily picked up.
It’s not surprising the Bears decided to play Fields in the preseason opener. He’s young, he’s still newish in the offensive system and there are a lot of new faces surrounding him. Of the 28 teams that have played their Week 1 preseason game (two games will be played Sunday), 12 used their projected starting quarterback. Joe Burrow wasn’t available for the Cincinnati Bengals as he is recovering from a right calf muscle injury.
The Titans were one of the teams to keep their starting quarterback — Ryan Tannehill — on the sideline. Tannehill last appeared in a preseason game in 2019. Tennessee started Malik Willis and rotated him with rookie Will Levis on each series.
Getting out there and taking a few snaps reinforces what the Bears have been doing in practice. As coach Matt Eberflus said, they’ve been emphasizing the screen game at Halas Hall.
“When you have guys that can take a 3-yard pass and go 50 yards, that just makes my job easier,” Fields said. “It’s always good to have playmakers like that on the team. Just competing with each other and competing with the defense every day is going to make us better.
“Anytime you have those playmakers where you can throw the ball 5 yards on a slant and he can take it 60, that makes my job easier, it makes the O-line’s job easier. After a period of time where you’re dipping and ducking those short passes, the defensive coordinator gets impatient and starts blitzing more, pressuring more, playing more man coverage, and that’s when those deep shots just naturally happen. I think it’s going to be a good thing for us this year.”
3. The Bears defense had eight sacks, one more than all of last year’s preseason.
With the Titans near midfield midway through the fourth quarter and facing third-and-11, defensive end Jalen Harris got a good power rush upfield and the pocket for Malik Willis disintegrated, turning into a sack that Harris shared with defensive tackle Travis Bell.
Veteran defensive tackle Justin Jones was the first one celebrating on the sideline, pumping his fist into the air on a day when a maligned position group from 2022 dominated.
It was one of eight sacks the Bears totaled, a figure they haven’t reached in a regular-season game since Nov. 20, 2005, in a 13-3 victory over the Carolina Panthers at Soldier Field. Adewale Ogunleye had three sacks and Alex Brown two that day. Before that you have to go all the way back to 1991 for the last time a Bears defense had eight or more sacks.
In games that counted last season, the Bears had only 20 sacks, the lowest figure in the NFL. They had seven sacks in the preseason last summer, three of them by undersized defensive tackle Trevon Coley, who didn’t make the cut to the 53-man roster. So what we saw in the preseason — no pass rush — played out when the regular season opened.
“It’s a family in there, man,” Jones said of his reaction. “Everyone in (the defensive line room) is really tight. I feel like everyone wants to see everyone else win. When you have a room full of genuine guys, that’s going to take you a long way.
“All the celebrations you see on the sideline from the vets when the young guys get sacks, and the celebrations you see from the young guys when other young guys get sacks, that is genuine. You can’t fabricate that. That’s real family.”
Journeyman Terrell Lewis led the way with two sacks and a forced fumble. Harris, an undrafted rookie from Arizona, added 1 1/2 sacks, three quarterback hits and a forced fumble. Trevis Gipson had a hustle sack and rookies Zacch Pickens (one), Noah Sewell (one), Micah Baskerville (one) and Bell (one-half) pitched in.
The Pickens play was great to see. The defensive tackle got upfield in a hurry and finished off a twist by bringing down Will Levis. Lewis has flashed from time to time going back to OTAs in the spring and is a potential depth piece now that he’s in a system that better fits his skill set after three seasons with the Los Angeles Rams.
No, this wasn’t pass-rush production from Yannick Ngakoue and DeMarcus Walker, the guys the Bears are paying to hunt quarterbacks. Neither played, two of 14 players to sit out. (In comparison, the Bears had 23 players sit out the preseason opener in 2022.) The heavy rush came against two inexperienced quarterbacks. Levis is a rookie and Malik Willis is in Year 2. Finally, the Titans’ reserve offensive line looked atrocious.
But this was a bright spot, no question about it.
“We don’t have everybody back yet,” Jones said. “But when we do, we’re going to be scary, especially with our new additions. Obviously, our most recent addition (Ngakoue), I think I am more excited about him than anyone else in the organization. I have always been a big fan. I am glad he’s here and I’m ready to get to work — all eight of us that we carry.”
Like the other positions on the team, the linemen have a points production chart in their meeting room. Sacks, pressures, hits, tackles for a loss, deflected passes — you name it. Jones was grinning while rattling off the names of the young players who stepped up.
“That’s what we expect as a room,” he said. “We always say if one of us gets a sack, we all get a sack.”
4. The Bears are having a youth movement, and those rookies got reps Saturday.
The beauty of the preseason for a team at the stage the Bears are in — early in a rebuild after a teardown season — is the opportunity for young players. And, boy, are they young.
Forty-four of the players on the 90-man roster are either rookies, considered in Year 1 or second-year players. The figure was 45 before a move Friday in which the Bears claimed guard Logan Stenberg off waivers from the Detroit Lions, replacing undrafted rookie wide receiver Aron Cruickshank.
The distinction between rookies and first-year players is simple. Rookies signed an NFL contract for the first time this season. First-year players — the Bears have seven — signed an NFL contract before this year but didn’t play enough regular-season games to earn an accrued season.
Add those seven to 21 rookies and 16 second-year players, and there is a ton of youth to sort through as general manager Ryan Poles and his staff consider options for the roster. The Bears had 13 rookies on their initial 53-man roster last season. They probably won’t go that high again, but you never know.
“Getting the young guys in there, the young guys that needed the reps,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “Our first three (draft) picks were in there working and it was really good to see those guys. I thought they operated well.”
The fresh faces, especially the later-round picks and undrafted players, have to keep shining. They can’t flash and then disappear. It makes the trip to Indianapolis this week for joint practices with the Colts significant. Those will be competitive sessions.
It’s important to remember that even after the additions of veterans such as defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, 28, and tight end Marcedes Lewis, 39, this projects to be one of the youngest rosters in the league. That means learning curves, excitement and opportunities.
5. The Bears continue to have a punt return issue.
It was a rough day for punt returner Velus Jones Jr., who lost a muffed punt when he was hit by Titans safety Mike Brown after attempting to field a Ryan Stonehouse punt on one bounce. It resulted in a turnover. Jones lost his job as a rookie last season after losing muffed punts in close losses to the Washington Commanders and New York Giants.
Jones fielded Stonehouse’s first punt on one bounce and returned it for 7 yards.
“It comes down to fundamentals, it comes down to technique,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “And we are going to work on that: Reading the flight of the ball, getting ourselves in position early and then getting underneath the football and squeezing the ball down on the catch.
“Those were two short punts. The nose was up so they come down pretty fast, so you’ve got two of the more difficult ones back to back. (Stonehouse) is a really good punter. He can really boom them, so we were setting back a little bit because he can really bomb them in that part of the field.
“(Jones) had to come up more than he usually would. He just has to use fundamental technique and read the ball before it gets too high, then get underneath it.”
Even with a short track record in the NFL, opposing special teams coordinators will have a book on Jones and a plan.
“Make him move to catch the ball,” a special teams coordinator for another team told me. “That’s what I would do every time. Have the punter get him on the move and put pressure on him.”
Jones has expressed more confidence this summer and special teams coordinator Richard Hightower has echoed that. He has put in a lot of work, flying to Charlotte, N.C., the second week of July to work out with punter Trenton Gill and five other punters for two days. It was just Jones and Carolina Panthers returner Raheem Blackshear catching punts.
“He caught so many,” Gill said. “(All the punters) hit about 50 or 60 balls each day for two days. Velus caught every other one. He got a ton of work in. That was tough today. That wasn’t because he just dropped it.”
Regardless, the Bears have an ongoing issue and they know it. They want to have faith in Jones, a third-round pick in 2022, but they can’t keep watching him make a similar mistake. That’s what coaches harp on. Mistakes happen. They get irritated when it’s the same mistake over and over.
Jones went the extra step with the trip to Charlotte for the gathering of punters.
“Just seeing different punts and getting a feel for it rep after rep after rep,” Jones said earlier in camp. “That’s been good. That helped out my confidence a lot. It’s different coming off the foot. With the Jugs machine you can get consistent spin. When it’s coming off the foot, it can do all types of crazy (stuff).”
It will be interesting to see what the Bears do in the coming week. Dante Pettis was cleared last week to return from the non-football injury list. He’s a non-flashy option as a return man, but ball security is paramount.
6. Despite a strong showing, the day ‘still doesn’t feel real’ to cornerback Tyrique Stevenson.
You can make a case that cornerback Tyrique Stevenson had the strongest game of any rookie, pacing the defense with seven solo tackles (one for a loss) and breaking up a pass along the boundary.
Stevenson read a quick out to short out by wide receiver Colton Dowell and broke on it immediately. He arrived in time to get his hands on Will Levis’ throw at the sideline but couldn’t haul it in.
“I’m going to catch that one (next time),” Stevenson said. “Just got to hit the Jugs (machine) every day. That’s all it is. I definitely saw it. It was a quick out. I’ve got to make sure I jump on the Jugs and get it back.”
Stevenson was the sure tackler he is expected to be at 6 feet, 214 pounds, and was aggressive. It’s a must for cornerbacks in the Tampa-2 scheme to be strong in run support, and he fit the profile at the Senior Bowl in January. He looks to have an excellent shot at the starting job opposite Jaylon Johnson. The Bears feel good enough about Stevenson to keep Kyler Gordon strictly inside at nickel, which could help him as well.
After his preseason debut, Stevenson, a second-round pick from Miami, said the experience had yet to sink in.
“Felt pretty great,” he said. “Still feels unreal. Still doesn’t feel real. That’s all I’ve really got.”
Wait a minute. It doesn’t feel real?
“Yeah,” he replied. “That was off instincts. Still trying to process everything. End of the day, I realize everyone told me it’s just a game of football. Went out there with the confidence. That was key. The game went fast. Had a couple mistakes I should clean up. Other than that, I felt comfortable.”
Fellow rookie Terell Smith, a fifth-round selection from Minnesota, did not play. He has been sidelined in practice recently with an undisclosed injury. It’s unfortunate because he also has gotten quality reps with the starters on the other side of Johnson.
It has looked like Stevenson’s job to win since the spring, and I’d say that remains the case. The benefit is Smith has shown well in practice and could develop as quality depth, something the Bears have been lacking at the position for multiple seasons.
7. Ja’Tyre Carter is getting preseason opportunities at guard because of injuries.
It will be interesting to see how the coaching staff breaks down the game for second-year guard Ja’Tyre Carter, who got more snaps than any other offensive player. Carter started in place of Nate Davis at right guard, and with veteran interior lineman Lucas Patrick also injured, it was a big moment for Carter, a seventh-round pick from Southern a year ago.
The Bears have expressed confidence that Davis, who has missed the majority of training camp, will be ready for the regular season. But his absence has given Carter a lot of time with the starters in practice. Davis missed eight games over the last two seasons as a member of the Titans, and Patrick had multiple injuries that sidelined him for most of last year.
In other words, there is an opening if Carter can earn trust.
Carter played left tackle in college, but the Bears moved him inside immediately and the hope is he can use his long arms — 33 5/8 inches — to excel. He spent the offseason working on skill and getting stronger to better handle the power an NFL guard has to face.
“Coming into my second year, I’ve got more insight into what I need to do,” Carter said last week. “I’ve got a purpose every time I come out to practice. At first, last year, I was just coming out here trying to learn things. The pieces were really moving. Now I can slow it down and I can finally work on things I need to get better at.
“Trying to work on my pad level, staying square in my set and using my length more because I have long arms. (Line coach Chris Morgan) has been working hard with me.
“It’s not easy to just say, ‘Use your long arms.’ Every day you show up, you have to work on it. Pre-practice, I am working at punching on the bags. After practice, I’m with Nate or Lucas or Teven (Jenkins), I’m just working on my set. Using my punch. Holding the line of scrimmage more.”
Davis will be the starter and Patrick has an edge for a job because he can play center. That creates a challenge for Carter because teams rarely keep a third backup interior player. But Carter should get a lot more playing time in the next two preseason games, and if he can step up, the conversation could become interesting.
8. Coaches plan to review the game tape closely to help individual players such as rookie tackle Darnell Wright improve.
I thought the Bears might give first-round pick Darnell Wright a little more run at right tackle, but he came out with the starters after the first two series — seven snaps. Wright, chosen with the No. 10 pick, has looked the part in practice and that has been encouraging.
“That was fun,” a beaming Wright said after the preseason opener. “I really didn’t have (a) clue what to expect. But it was fun. Had butterflies at the beginning. We did good. We weren’t in there for a long time but it was good. Even with those seven snaps, there will be some stuff to look at and get better on.”
Wright showed up for training camp in good shape — at 328 pounds — and the Bears are hopeful they have a pillar on the line for seasons to come. When Nate Davis is back in the lineup, they will have a powerful right side to run behind.
“I’ll have to watch the tape because you are looking at other things a lot of the time,” Matt Eberflus said of Wright. “I did see a couple of snaps where he looked good, so we’ll see it. Like I said, we’ll evaluate every player, go through it slowly because the players have the day off (Sunday), so we have a lot of time to make sure that we are going through it.
“Really it’s about the style. We want to make sure that the Chicago Bears are playing with the right effort, the right intensity, being smart about how they play and playing smart with good fundamentals and technique, and that is all we are trying to do.
“We are trying to help each player, and we are going to give each player a couple of things to work on this coming week based on this tape so he can really home in and focus on his skill.”
Eberflus puts teeth into that with extended individual periods in practice, and that could be the case Monday before the team leaves for the joint practices in Indianapolis.
9. The joint practices with the Colts could yield some surprises.
The Bears wanted to find a partner for joint practices last summer but couldn’t get a match with the way the preseason schedule fell. They gave it a shot again this summer and connected with the Colts, who formerly employed Matt Eberflus as defensive coordinator. GM Ryan Poles has a close relationship with Colts GM Chris Ballard too. They worked together in Kansas City.
Who knows what the Bears will find in Indianapolis?
The Bears practiced with the New England Patriots back in 2016 and saw a spunky, undersized cornerback named Cre’Von LeBlanc making plays. They claimed him off waivers from the Patriots, launching a pretty successful career.
“I have been involved in a lot of these and I think it’s really cool because you get to cover and go against different skill sets,” Eberflus said. “We’ve been going against the same guys. DJ (Moore) has been lining up against Jaylon (Johnson) and (Tyrique) Stevenson and all of those. Now we get to line up against (Michael) Pittman (Jr.) and those guys, so it’s pretty cool. There are some pretty good players over there, so it’s going to be an exciting week.”
10. The presence of multiple scouts and a notable absence were felt at Soldier Field.
Scouts from five NFL teams were in attendance: the Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The USFL also was represented.
10a. Big day on special teams for a couple of second-year players. Cornerback Jaylon Jones made three tackles. He’s down the depth chart on defense, but if he can make himself indispensable on special teams, he will have a shot. Safety Elijah Hicks had two tackles, and Richard Hightower’s units got a lot of work.
10b. Roster cuts are due at 3 p.m. Aug. 29. That’s when teams must establish an initial 53-man roster. Practice squads of up to 16 players can be formed the next day.
10c. There was a void in the press box for the first game of the season. Walt Hanza, the longtime head of the statistician booth, died on Jan. 23, shortly after last season ended. When I say longtime, Hanza had been helping track accurate statistics since well before I began covering the team in 2001. He was always cheerful and made keen observations. He will be missed.
