Chicago Bears: 3 reasons not to panic after Bengals game

With the Chicago Bears’ second preseason game in the books, we tell you why there’s no need to panic.

Let’s get it out in the open right away. The Chicago Bears’ performance on Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals left a lot to be desired. Perhaps the opening play was a portent of things to come. The Bears came out firing with a deep pass to Kevin White. Trubisky overshot his target for an incomplete pass. It did not get much better for the starters.

There were countless examples of sloppy play by the first-team offense. Cody Whitehair struggled with a shotgun exchange and committed a holding penalty, Mitch Trubisky had to burn a timeout on the opening drive to avoid a delay of game, and Eric Kush was beaten for a sack.

The defense wasn’t much better. Not only did it give up nine first downs to the Bengals in the first quarter, but John Timu and Marcus Cooper were routinely beaten in coverage. Kylie Fitts, who flashed some potential in the Hall of Fame game came back down to earth — which should be expected for a rookie.

However, despite all of that, there is absolutely no reason to panic about the Bears. The preseason is a fun time, but also one ripe for hyperbole, over-exaggeration, and over-reactions. Don’t let yourself fall into that trap. I’m here to tell you why there’s no reason to worry after Thursday night’s game.