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Road Ahead to Last Bears Preseason Look
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The Bears head into an extended week of practice before their final preseason game looking at the roster and production so far from all angles.
It's not the complete success it seems, even as they've come away with 19-14 and 27-11 victories. People tend to forget each year how utterly meaningless preseason game scores are and the way they occur, but one preseason game often used as a measuring stick in the past was the dress rehearsal game. That was the third preseason game when there were four.
However, what most teams did last year was entirely dismiss rehearsal games. They used the extra week of practice created before the start of the regular season by the cancellation of the final preseason game to sharpen starters in practices rather than risk full contact sessions in the third preseason game.
It won't be surprising if Justin Fields and the starting offense get only a series or two again in the final preseason game at Cleveland Saturday, Aug. 27 because the goal is to have players healthy for the opener with San Francisco.
Asked about the personnel plan for the Cleveland game, coach Matt Eberflus said he'd meet with coordinators on Friday before going forward with this.
Already there are injury questions for the Bears with third running back Trestan Ebner (ankle). Even if they solve the Roquan Smith contract standoff, they have problems with linebacker depth because Matthew Adams is their starting weakside right now and also the starting strong side when they have Smith back, but he went out Thursday with a shoulder injury of unknown severity.
The Bears have two free practice days Saturday and Sunday, then a day off and then Eberflus plans to use the Tuesday through Thursday practices the way they do in the regular season with practices on Wednesday through Friday. So it's going to be like a preseason rehearsal for an actual NFL week, although it's possible the game itself might not actually amount to anything more than a series or two for starters.
Saturday's practice has been moved back from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., mainly because they didn't get back from Seattle until extremely early Friday morning.
When practices resume, here are flaws or issues from Week 2 they need to address to close out preseason before roster cuts.
1. Tackling
Rookie Kyler Gordon had a missed tackle when he came up on run support. As the game went along, and especially late with the third-team defense, there were many missed tackles and sloppy plays in general.
Eberflus addressed this afterward and wants more turnovers. The only turnover in the second preseason game was the result of a Seattle muffed punt.
"You know, we want to be able to show the intensity of how we hit, how we knock things back, you know, and how we tackle," Eberflus said. "So I thought that was solid today; that always can be better and you know our strip attempts have to be better. We got to ... cause more fumbles, take away more. So we'll get after that this week."
2. Better Sideline Operation
Coaches missed an obvious chance for a first down to extend a drive. Wide receiver Isaiah Coulter made a catch of a desperation flip by Trevor Siemian just off the ground for a first down but the officials mistakenly called it an incompletion.
Eberflus never threw the red flag. He had challenged a Chiefs reception along the sidelines in the first preseason game and won but missed this chance to go 2-0 in preseason challenges.
"Yeah, so on that one, that's that's a good question because a couple coaches on the sideline thought it bounced on the ground," Eberflus said. "We got one good look upstairs and that was it you know so we didn't have a good a second look at it so we just decided to just let it go. You know, in real time, in a real game, maybe I would have thrown it in there but we didn't have a second look."
In the first game, the TV replay really wasn't even needed to make the challenge because the play occurred directly in front of Eberflus and other coaches.
It sure seemed obvious on this replay from the first look that the ball never touched the ground, so coaches need to get their evaluation faster and more accurate for decision making on such calls, before the opener whether it's in the coaches' box or with Eberflus himself.
The Bears coach admitted they can always get better in the way coaches process decisions in games.
"It's about having having calm and clear communication on the headset and I think when you have that, and it's got to be effective communication, so, who's talking to who and when, and we've had that the first two games, and, I think the operation of that's been really good, communication from everything from what unit's going on the field if we're going to go forward, what situations are coming up, we're always staying a play ahead. So that's been really good."
Just not good enough for replay in this case.
3. 100 Percent
There were several Bears sitting out who either were close but not entirely 100% healed from a recent injury. They need for those players to return to practice and in some cases it might mean a roster spot or starting spot for them.
Running back David Montgomery, defensive tackle Justin Jones and pass rushing tackle Mario Edwards are players who just need work for the sake of clearing out cobwebs. They were held out after recently missing some practices. Montgomery hasn't played yet in preseason. Jones played in Week 1 but didn't practice last week.
Another one was fullback Khari Blasingame, who was injured in the game but the specifics weren't discussed afterward.
On defense, cornerback Kindle Vildor didn't play and had been off and on at practice after missing the first preseason game, as well.
They saw a glimpse of what wide receiver Tajae Sharpe in Week 1 but in Week 2 he couldn't play with injury. It's unlikely Sharpe has done enough to lock anything down based on two preseason receptions, considering the number of receivers who will soon be cut by other NFL teams and will be available. So he'll need to be back to prove himself in the final preseason game.
4. More Reps
Nothing looks polished enough on offense to say it's Week 1 ready. After all, the Bears had the ball on the ground four times, although they lost only one. But some players need the practice reps more than others and possibly even some in the Cleveland game just to show they can handle their assignments.
Guard Teven Jenkins and cornerback Kyler Gordon are two who come to mind.
The move of Jenkins came just before the Seattle game so he will definitely need more work if they believe what they saw on film indicates he can be better than veteran Michael Schofield.
With Gordon, it's a case of getting him plays at two different position and you can never have enough time or plays for this.
"He's real easy going—high energy," Eberflus said.
You know, he loves to try new things and he's excited about trying new techniques and and he's working at even in this (game)."
Eberflus indicated they'll look at using him both outside and at slot cornerback in games the way they've done at practice.
"We're going to look at both things," he said. "You know, we'll look at both things putting him on the outside and still keeping him on the inside. We really like him on the inside but certainly he's going to play on the outside, too."
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