Quick Takeaways from Dolphins Preseason Opener

The Miami Dolphins gave up 20 unanswered points while losing to the Chicago Bears in their preseason opener, but that wasn't overall significant in the grand scheme of things.

Here's what should be remembered from this game:

-- Of course, we have to start with Tua Tagovailoa, whose performance was really, really impressive. It says here he looked better than he did in any game last season and that includes his outing in the victory against the Arizona Cardinals last year. Forget about the long completion to Mike Gesicki because that was the result of the offensive line giving him all the time in the world to wait for Gesicki to break open deep and focus on his third-down completions to Gesicki and Mack Hollins both in tight windows with receivers that weren't that wide open. These are the type of throws we just didn't see very often in 2020. And that's why his outing was so encouraging, even with the bad interception he threw.

-- That long pass to Gesicki clearly was the highlight for the offensive line, whose performance was spotty. Austin Jackson and Solomon Kindley both were called for holding, and Jackson had a couple of other rough plays. The failure of the running game to punch it into the end zone on two tries from the 1-yard line was particularly disappointing.

-- The first-team defense's performance was nothing short of brilliant, and it has to be mentioned that it happened despite the absence of three key starters: Xavien Howard, Byron Jones and Emmanuel Ogbah. Nik Needham had a very strong outing at cornerback, as did defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, whose depth chart status has been a big topic in camp.

-- Brian Flores suggested after the game that it didn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but it definitely was noticeable that it was Malcolm Brown and not Myles Gaskin who started at running back. It was, however, Salvon Ahmed who was the most impressive Dolphins back on this day. Yes, the argument could be made that he played against the Bears' backups, but he still impressed with his ability to hit the hole, not to mention abusing a Bears linebacker on his touchdown reception.

-- It was pretty obvious before this game that the Dolphins had the potential for a great return game and it was in full display against the Bears. Jakeem Grant (2), Jaylen Waddle and Malcolm Perry combined for four punt returns of at least 20 yards, though it should be mentioned that the Bears have an issue with punter Pat O'Donnell not getting enough hang time.

-- It really was good to see Lynn Bowden Jr. emerge against the Bears after what was a terribly quiet camp. What we saw in the preseason opener was more what Bowden showed as a rookie last year after he arrived in a trade with the Raiders.

-- This has nothing to do with the Dolphins, but watching Justin Fields makes it pretty obvious the Bears need to go to him as their starting quarterback instead of Andy Dalton and, like, pronto.

-- Lastly, we'll close with Noah Igbinoghene, the 2020 first-round pick who had a tough rookie season. Well, he had a pretty good outing against the Bears with good coverage on a consistent basis, including a nice third-down tackle. The disappointing part was that he was injured on the play, though it did not appear anything serious. On the one completion of note he gave up, Igbinoghene again had tight coverage, though he never turned around in time to make a play on the ball. Bottom line, there were clear signs of progress.