I was a little late at seeing the Bears' first 2017 preseason game. I had meant to record it Thursday evening and watch it later that night. Instead, my DVR recorded two hours of A Football Life instead of the game. I don't know if this was NFL Network's fault for airing the wrong show, or if it was Century Link's fault for mislabeling the schedule. In any case, I had to wait to record the re-broadcast later Saturday morning and watch it Saturday night.
I've been pretty vocal about my confusion with the Bear's offseason quarterback decisions. While I wasn't sorry to see Jay Cutler kicked to the curb, I was very unsure about signing Mike Glennon. I was even more dumbfounded by the Bears' decision to trade up to draft Trubisky after having already spent all that money on Glennon.
Glennon didn't give fans reason to be optimistic, as his preseason debut went about as bad as it could possibly go. His second pass of the game was intercepted by Chris Harris Jr. and returned for a touchdown.
Mike Glennon's second pass was intercepted by Chris Harris Jr. and returned for a TD.
In Glennon's defense, the offensive line wasn't doing him many favors. He seemed to be getting hit every time he dropped back. While Chris Harris Jr. was high-stepping the pick into the end zone, Glennon was peeling himself off the turf. If the Bears want Glennon (or any quarterback they decide to field) to be successful, then they're going to need to beef up their protection.
Cody Whitehair, in particular made a key mistake by snapping the ball over Glennon's head during the Bears' second possession. The ball was recovered by the Broncos, but the Bears' defense managed to hold them from scoring.
Cody Whitehair snapped the ball
over Glennon's head.
The Bears' third drive was where they were finally able to move the ball for the first time in the evening thanks mostly to their running game. Jordan Howard only got a few runs, but rookie Tarik Cohen made some pretty good runs that may earn him some extra play-time and maybe a spot on the final roster. Down 10-0, Glennon ended his night in the early second quarter with only two completions on eight attempts, with the pick-six and a quarterback rating of 0.0 -- yes, that's zero point zero!
Mark Sanchez didn't see much playing time, but I think the coaches probably have a pretty good idea of what Sanchez brings to the team. His performance was adequate. I have no complaints. He might have looked better if rookie tight end Adam Shaheen hadn't dropped a third down pass that would have kept Sanchez's first drive alive. I was excited to see Adam Shaheen in action, as he has the potential to be a valuable target for the Bears' quarterbacks. While Shaheen was in for virtually the entire game, he sadly saw little action. He almost had a touchdown to close out the second half, but only ended up with a few balls thrown his way, and only a single catch for three yards. I hope to see him get a lot more action int he next few games.
The Bears' dismal offensive performance in the first half could have looked a lot worse if the defense hadn't also kept the Broncos' quarterbacks on edge. Had the defense not given up a couple of drive-extending penalties, the Broncos probably wouldn't have scored their first half field goal. I don't expect the Broncos to be a powerhouse offense this year, so stopping them for a quarter and a half isn't really an impressive accomplishment for the starting defense. But it wasn't a disaster like the starting offense's performance.
Trubisky benefits from Glennon's poor start
Even though the Bears have insisted that Glennon is the starter, Glennon may have a hard time keeping his job if he doesn't turn his preseason around. Trubisky didn't exactly set the stat book on fire in his debut, but he was competent -- as a rookie -- with only a dozen college starts under his belt. He failed to engineer a game-winning drive in the last minute-and-a-half of the game, but he did take care of the ball throughout the game. He only threw a single touchdown, but he engineered several scoring drives. He also didn't turn the ball over, his throws were on-target and on-time, and he showed great mobility behind the line that allowed him to extend plays and keep drives alive.
Trubisky used mobility to extend plays and threw accurate passes.
Trubisky came into the game with just under two minutes left in the first half and made pretty good with his opportunities. A great opening run from Kadeem Carey set the Bears up with great field position for their two-minute drill, and Trubisky finished it off with a short TD toss to the Bears' new weapon, Victor Cruz (who surprisingly played for most of the game as well). He almost had a second TD on the books in the third quarter, but free agent receiver Rueben Randall couldn't quite get the ball over the goal line. And he might have had a third TD in the fourth quarter if tight end Daniel Brown had managed to pull in a diving, third-down catch in the end zone.
It was a good enough performance to earn Trubisky the "Player of the Game" honor from the broadcasters, and to get high praise from broadcasters, analysts, and even Mike Ditka and Brian Urlacher. Just as I thought would happen as soon as the draft pick was made, the Bears have a quarterback controversy brewing.
Trubisky didn't light the stat book on fire, but played well enough to earn "Player of the Game" honors.