Chicago Bears: 3 reasons not to panic after Bengals game

Lots of absentees

Thursday night was the first time starters saw the field in game action this preseason. But let’s not pretend as if the Bears were at full strength with their full complement of players. Therefore, it would be unfair to draw definitive conclusions on their performance based on this one game.

Individual observations are totally fair, and there were many that warrant concern and discussion. But they all must be taken with a giant condition attached — and that is that the team was missing a lot of key players on Thursday night.

Notably absent from the game were Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, Jordan Howard, Danny Trevathan, Roquan Smith and Prince Amukamara. Those are significant players not on the field for both units. So while the starters technically started the game, it was the equivalent of a spring training split squad game in baseball.

There is still plenty of time before the “dress rehearsal” otherwise known as the third week of the preseason when the full complement of healthy starters plays at least the first half. That game will serve as a more realistic barometer of where the team is at, but we are still a long ways away from that night.

In between now and then the Bears will have two more weeks of practice and one more preseason game. In reality, until that time, everyone should refrain from making any judgments about how good this team will be.