Five Takeaways from Week 1 of Preseason

The first preseason game rarely should get anyone excited.

It did with the Bears because of how quickly the Justin Fields-to-DJ Moore connection produced a touchdown, then how Khalil Herbert repeated the procedure.

Others can score long touchdowns besidesFields.

Moore's TD shouldn't say more about the team's overall success beyond indicating explosiveness, which should have been assumed already based on the skill set he showed in five seasons at Carolina with poor quarterbacks.

Sure, Muhsin Muhammad once told Sports Illustrated "Chicago is where receivers go to die." However, Moore shows it doesn't have to be that way now, with Fields at quarterback.

Here are self-evident truths from the first week of preseason play for the Bears.

1. The Screen Is the Thing

The Bears have practiced screen passes so much offensive coordinator Luke Getsy should be tired of calling them. It was a staple of the Packers offense he brought to Chicago. Now, the linemen look big, athletic and mobile enough to get out and execute them. Moore and Herbert can make these go a long distance.

The Bears last year screened the third-highest percentage in the league but only with slightly above-average effectiveness, according to Pro Football Focus. Now when they do it, they might have a chance to rank high in effectiveness.

And as Fields said after the game: "After a period of time when you're dipping and dunking those short passes, the defensive coordinator gets impatient and starts blitzing more, pressuring more, playing man coverage, and that's when those deep shots just naturally happen."

They've already shown more evidence in practice of being able to hit the deep sideline shots. When the gambling starts in the regular season by defenses, the Bears should be ready provided the line and blocking from the backfield hold up to the blitz.

2. Flooding with Zone

While Fields is talking about being able to go downfield more because they show they can screen, what's more likely to happen is more exotic zone coverages against the Bears. Defenses will be more willing to test Fields' accuracy from the pocket. They won't want him scrambling. They won't want to face the screen passes. They'll take their chances on Fields being less accurate and picking off his passes or betting he can't correctly anticipate where the receiver is breaking into a dead spot in the zone.

It's here where Fields is going to need to show the real improvement to convince skeptics as well as defensive coordinators. Working in his favor is

Fields was the most accurate passer in the league last year throwing routes 10-19 yards according to PFF while Moore had the second-most targets in the NFL from 2019-22 on routes 10-19 yards. That match spells trouble for zones.

3. Nothing Yet on Drives

All the cheering and screaming over two long TDs to start preseason was refreshing. The big plays did nothing to show the Bears had solved one of their great weaknesses of last season.

Everyone knew they could create occasional big plays on the ground, and in some rare instances through the air. They had problems driving the ball consistently last year as an offense. There were plenty of big plays from Fields or Khalil Herbert last season, too. If Fields wasn't hitting Cole Kmet for a TD in the red zone, they had trouble finishing long drives. They were next to last in the league last year in net points per drive and net yards per drive according to Football Outsiders. Consistently moving the ball requires fewer third-down situations, which usually means bigger gains on first or second down. The Bears averaged 5.42 yards on first downs, leaving only 4.58 yards on average for the first down. That average of 5.42 was 17th in the league. But they still had trouble sustaining drives because they struggle on second down. They were still a respectable 13th in the league converting third downs but only because Fields had to scramble for so many first downs on third down. Also, because they were behind so often in the final 10 games they were picking up first downs against soft zone coverage at garbage time. They wouldn't need to put the weight of the offense on Fields' scrambling if the offense functioned properly and they faced fewer third-and-short situations. None of this improvement was apparent yet in the preseason opener but they barely got the first-team offense onto the field, and when they did they were still missing the starting right guard as well as wide receiver Chase Claypool.

4. Budding Pass Rush

The eight sacks and constant pressure on Tennessee's two backup quarterbacks was impressive for that game but the Bears had their best sack total of preseason last year against Kansas City in a Week 1 preseason game as well. The difference here is sacks and pressure from players who figure to still be on the team. Last year all but two of their seven preseason sacks came from players who didn't make the team. Trevis Gipson, Zacch Pickens and Terrell Lewis had sacks and it's possible either Gipson or Lewis might not be with the team but they all might be, as well. They had 11 quarterback hits from seven players and eight sacks from six players. They had pressure across the board, which is encouraging, unlike the pressure they showed last preseason.

The caution is that their pass rush in the first drive with starters playing looked no better than it did last year when they finished with 20 sacks, lowest total in the league. Tennessee drove right down the field and scored, and scrambles or completions late on a play loomed large on the drive. Then again, the Bears didn't have DeMarcus Walker or Yannick Ngakoue on the field in the game and that's their two best pass rushers.

5. Physical Secondary

The true measure of a physical defense is if the cornerbacks and safeties are hitting, because the linemen and linebackers have to hit. They did in this one. Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson especially hit. Kyler Gordon produced a violent hit early on a completion that jarred the ball loose but was ruled a catch. It was a tone-setter for the secondary.

"That first play I thought it was a heat-seeking missile—I didn't know what happened," Gipson said.

The secondary's best hitter, Jaquan Brisker, wasn't even on the field.

Once they combine this with Tremaine Edmunds after he recovers, the defense could become the takeaway machine they're hoping to create.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

Add us as a preferred source on Google