Chicago Bears lose to Denver Broncos: Offensive grades

Wide Receivers: C

Now that the Chicago Bears no longer have a true #1 receiver like Alshon Jeffery, they have a ton of questions to answer. And they didn’t do much to address the big ones last night in a mediocre effort.

With Glennon not giving them many opportunities to showcase anything, Cameron Meredith and Kevin White, the Bears’ big stars at receiver, both got shut out in their preseason debuts. Hardly their fault fully, but the result was still uninspiring. And it certainly did nothing to tell us who’s going to take on the brunt of the pass-catching burden with their former franchise receiver gone.

However, while the top receivers languished, a few backups made strong cases to prove that they belonged. In particular, Deonte Thompson and Victor Cruz, two guys potentially on the roster bubble, showed up prominently on the stat sheet.

Thompson caught five balls for 64 yards, serving as Trubisky’s favorite target with the reserve unit. His speed and ability to beat defenders in the middle of the field stood out. And while Cruz’s three catches for 11 yards won’t wow people, he did catch Trubisky’s first touchdown pass. He also had a killer drop on the final drive that slowed the Bears’ chances of coming back to tie the game, though that isn’t characteristic of his play. Kendall Wright also got in on the action with one catch for 14 yards.

If nothing else, it seems clear that Cruz is going to make this team barring injury. Bears quarterbacks certainly look his way plenty (six targets), and he’s still getting open despite his advancing age. And Thompson, Wright or Tanner Gentry (one catch for 13 yards) all helped their cases to make the team as well.

Now, if we can just get the starters to produce something worthwhile, we’ll be cooking with gas.