3 things to watch for in the Chicago Bears 2nd preseason game
By Todd Welter
The Chicago Bears hope to have another solid preseason game when they take on the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday.
It is the preseason, but the Chicago Bears got some good performances in their first exhibition game against the Tennessee Titans.
D.J. Moore and Khalil Herbert took a couple of screen passes from Justin Fields and turned them into huge touchdown plays.
The offensive line played solid and the defense generated a pass rush. Again, please remember, this is preseason.
Teams are running very vanilla offenses and defenses to not give too much away when it pertains to the regular season. Also, everyone is trying to escape the preseason without a major injury.
The second preseason game is not going to serve as the dress rehearsal for the regular season.
Head coach Matt Eberflus said Justin Fields and other select starters will not play on Saturday. Eberflus felt Fields got valuable reps during the Chicago Bears and the Colts’ joint practices this week.
Eberflus said he and the Bears coaching staff made the decision last night to not play Justin Fields and select starters in the preseason game against Indy because of the work they got in the last two nights of joint practices.
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) August 18, 2023
Despite Justin Fields not playing, there are some things to pay attention to when these two teams face off on Saturday night.
The Chicago Bears starting offensive line might get to finally work together.
Braxton Jones is the only player returning to the offensive line that will start at the position he played last season. Cody Whitehair is moving back to center while Teven Jenkins is moving from right guard to left guard. Darnell was taken in the first round this year to start at right tackle.
Nate Davis signed in the offseason to be the new starting right guard. The problem is the revamped offensive line has not had much time to work together as Davis has missed most of training camp with an undisclosed injury.
Davis returned to practice on Wednesday in a limited capacity. Hopefully, this is a sign that he might be able to suit up on Saturday.
Although Whitehair left Thursday’s practice with an apparent injury.
If both suit up and Eberflus green lights the starting line getting reps, it will be interesting to see how the new-look offensive line holds up in their first game action together.
Last season the offensive line protected Justin Fields like a piece of paper would against a strong wind.
The hope is this group can at least be average to prevent Justin from running for his life.
If Davis and Whitehair cannot go, it will be Ja’Tyre Carter and Doug Kramer who will get a chance to prove that they can be starters down the road. Both played well last Saturday.
The offensive line as a whole looked solid against the Titans. It was a performance that almost gave hope that the line has some quality depth. The keyword is almost.
The Titans were not running any exotic blitzes or stunts to confuse the line. Alex Leatherwood, Larry Borom, and Kramer were going up defensive linemen that will not be in the NFL.
Those three along with Carter will be counted on to provide depth behind the starters. Borom and Leatherwood have been benched in the past. Kramer is battling Lucas Patrick and Dieter Eiselen for one of the last spots on the offensive line.
This game is not just about seeing what the starting offensive line can do, but also seeing if the backups can continue to provide quality reps.