3 Takeaways From Bears-Bengals Preseason Week 2

The Chicago Bears improved to 3-0 in the preseason with a dominant 27-3 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in their only home preseason game on Saturday. While stringing together back-to-back dominant preseason performances is impressive, it’s important to remember that the Bears played their starters, and the Bengals did not.

Caleb Williams and the first-team offense played three drives together, which ended in punts. Following the third punt, the Bears pulled D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen but kept Williams in for the rest of the first half. Although Williams didn't face the Bengals starters, any reps he can get in the preseason are important.

Defensively, the starters only played the first quarter. Taking precautions like these is smart, especially when the first team is just playing against third and fourth-stringers.

As the team moves into the final week of the preseason, here are three takeaways from this game.

1. Tyson Bagent is QB2

After Brett Rypien's performance in the Hall of Fame game, some Bears fans thought there might be a QB2 competition between him and Tyson Bagent.

However, Rypien didn't make a significant impact against the Buffalo Bills, completing just 1-of-2 passes for 10 yards. Similarly, Bagent's performance was underwhelming, as he finished 5-of-8 for 47 yards against the Bills.

However, Bagent had a much better performance against the Bengals, finishing the day 7-of-8 for 87 yards and two touchdowns. Both of his touchdowns were perfectly placed passes to Dante Pettis. The first touchdown was a nice corner route to Pettis, where he found himself wide open.

Although the ball wasn't thrown directly into the corner like it should have been, Bagent put it in a spot for only his receiver. That quality is good to see in a second-year quarterback.

The second touchdown pass to Pettis was on a fade route where Bagent dropped the ball right in the bread basket.

Both of Bagent's touchdown passes show tremendous growth from his rookie season. That's exactly what the Bears want to see from an undrafted Division II quarterback. If Williams faces injury during his rookie season, Bears fans should feel good with Bagent at the helm.