Five major takeaways from Chicago Bears preseason Week 1

Bears’ defensive front seven is for real

Similar to last season, the front seven is going to be the strength of the Chicago Bears defense in 2017, and they sure did come ready to play on Thursday night.

Leonard Floyd got the defense off of the right foot with a sack on the Broncos’ first offensive play. Floyd exploded off of the line of scrimmage using his elite level quickness and athleticism, then used his hands well to abuse Broncos right tackle Menelik Watson on his way to the quarterback. It was an impressive play by Floyd who has elite pass rush upside. Expect big things out of Floyd in 2017.

Floyd was fantastic but he was not the only member of the front seven who played well. The defensive line, in particular, was really good early in the game. Akiem Hicks and Eddie Goldman both looked dominant at the point of attack. If healthy, those two are going to be dominant up front in 2017. Fellow starter Mitch Unrein really looked strong as well, holding his own against the run and consistently creating pressure as an interior rusher.

While he did not start, Jonathan Bullard also played well on Thursday night. Bullard has clearly gotten bigger and stronger from last season and still has plenty of quickness. Bullard thrives when given the opportunity to slash through the line of scrimmage as a one-gap rusher. He did really well in those situations against the Broncos. I expect Bullard to be much more productive for the Chicago Bears in 2017.

Later in the game, John Timu really stood out from the inside linebacker position. Timu is commonly overlooked when talking about the Bears inside linebackers but he was flying all over the field making plays on Thursday night.

If that continues, Timu could push for some serious defensive playing time in 2017. Right now, Nick Kwiatkoski is clearly the third linebacker behind Jerrell Freeman and Danny Trevathan, but Timu could make that an interesting competition if he continues to play at a high level.

I fully expected the Bears’ front seven to perform well in this game. They are a talented unit and Denver does not have a great offensive line. However, do not take anything away from them. They showed up and dominated just like they should do.