Last Chance for Some Players to Impress

The Bears will be taking the final preseason game seriously even if it's not with first-team players on the field.

Their opposition, the Tennessee Titans, are in much the same situation. It will be backups largely battling, with all eyes for the Bears on Justin Fields again except maybe for one other player.

That would be 39-year-old tackle Jason Peters. The Bears could be pinning their left tackle hopes to a veteran still playing long past the time when most players have retired, and they'll see how he looks. It doesn't sound like coach Matt Nagy will play Peters for long.

"We're going to see where he's at to give us a gauge so that the rest of the time that we go to preparing for the Rams, whatever that is, those 17, 16 days, that's where he's going to have to continue every day to work on conditioning and get in game shape," Nagy said.

Obviously Peters isn't going to get into playing shape at his age just by walking out on the playing field in a preseason game.

Here's what else there will be to watch in the Bears' final preseason game in Nashville (NFL Network, FOX-32, 6 p.m.)

When the Bears have the ball

Is Fields staying in the pocket as long as he needs to in order to show he is picking up the offense and reading defenses? He's not going to do it by tearing out on a scramble every other pass when the game means nothing and he's facing reserves.

How is the first-team offensive line holding up? They're supposed to play together for at least a small part of the first half. Nagy wanted to give Fields an opportunity to play without fear of having his helmet knocked off like last week.

Bears reserve receivers working against young Titans defensive backs. The Titans have a few defensive backs the Bears were looking closely at during the run up to the draft, Caleb Farley and Elijah Molden. Farley is coming off two back surgeries and played for the first time last week. Molden was one of the nation's top slot cornerbacks. Rodney Adams and Riley Ridley both need productive games in battles to stick on the Bears roster. Ridley has led the team in receiving yards and catches.

Former Oregon State running backs. Ryan Nall and Artavis Pierce will get plenty of carries after Khalil Herbert gets carries in the first half. Both Nall and Pierce are obviously behind Herbert, the rookie who has had a nice camp and preseason. Both could be cut but it's possible both could be brought back on the practice squad as they're well versed in the offense. Pierce has been more impressive in the two preseason games with a 51-yard run to his credit and three catches for 10 yards. Nall has been a valued member of special teams but keeping more than three backs on the active roster might not be the route the Bears choose to take, at least until Tarik Cohen is able to return to the field.

Nick Foles in the second half. Foles should get some opportunities to air it out as the Bears shop him for any number of teams looking for a backup. They won't be cutting him because it would cost them too much cap space. But they would get cap savings by trading him. The Falcons signed Josh Rosen so they might not be interested. Then again, he's been on five teams in four years so maybe they would. Bears offensive coordinator Dave Ragone worked with Foles last year in Chicago, although maybe this is why they haven't been interested to date. The Colts think they'll have starter Carson Wentz back by the opener or Week 2, so they might not be interested. The Jets remain a possibility with no experience anywhere in their QB room.

When the Titans have the ball

Can the Bears defensive backs handle the quick passing game? They sure couldn't handle it last week against Mitchell Trubisky. It's a tactic many teams employ to offset the dominant Bears pass rushers like Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks. The Bills did it well and the secondary was caught playing too far off receivers, allowing for plenty of YAC. The Bears won't see Ryan Tannehill, who is on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Of particular interest will be how Kindle Vildor and Artie Burns play, and also Thomas Graham Jr., their rookie sixth-round pick. The Titans will use former Bears QB Matt Barkley and QB Logan Woodside. The two had passer ratings of 139.6 and 134.1 respectively last week, so they were working the short game well

Can the Bears pass defense stop Mason Kinsey? He's been the Titans' version of Rodney Adams, a former D-III player who wasn't expected to do much but has six catches for 107 yards and a TD.

Will the Bears tackling look better? All defensive players were upset with the way they tackled—or didn't—in the loss last week. Linebackers Joel Iyiegbuniwe and Josh Woods need to establish themselves as physical tacklers if they hope to make the roster. They'll be trying to stop Mekhi Sergant, a running back trying to make the Titans roster and break in among a group of talented backs. He has 136 rushing yards on 32 carries in preseason, 47 more than the other Titans backs combined.

Special Teams

Someone, anyone who can run down the field and tackle on punts. After allowing 14.9 yards a return on seven returns against Miami, they did something even worse and gave up a 79-yard TD return on a punt to Marquez Stevenson of Buffalo.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven