Geez, it's already football season? Thursday night saw the annual NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony and preseason football game. The Bears and the Ravens played the game, which finally gives us Bears fans a brief (and limited) glimpse of what new coach Matt Nagy's team might look like.
Brian Urlacher was inducted into the Hall of Fame prior to Bears playing the game.
Perhaps my favorite player ever, Bears great Brian Urlacher, was inducted into the Hall of Fame prior to the game, alongside players like Ray Lewis, Randy Moss, and Packer great Jerry Kramer (how was Jerry Kramer not already in the Hall?). It goes without saying that I miss watching Urlacher play. I also miss playing as him in Madden video games.
Brian Urlacher was a great player and
consummate teammate who always
celebrated his teammates' success.
I always admired the physicality, speed, and intelligence that Urlacher played with. But it wasn't just his on-field performance that I admired. I also appreciated the way that he always seemed to be watching his team from the sidelines whenever he was off the field. I remember every time Devin Hester returned a kick, or every time a back broke a big run, or the QB made a big throw, Urlacher was running down the sideline, chasing his teammates and hooting and hollering in celebration of their success. He was a consummate team player, and seemed to be an all-around quality person. Players like him, Devin Hester, Charles Tillman, and some non-Bears like Peyton Manning, are the reason that I started watching football more regularly.
Hopefully, recent linebacker draftees Roquan Smith and Leonard Floyd can live up to the legacy of Urlacher, Butkus, and Singletary.
Limited look at Matt Nagy's offense
Sadly, we didn't get to see first round (8th overall) draft pick Roquan Smith at all, nor did we see second year QB Mitch Trubisky. Smith is holding out over contractual concerns relating to the NFL's new helmet collision rules and other issues. I'm not going to talk much about the team's defensive performance, as it shouldn't be indicative of how they'll play in the regular season. I'll pay more attention to the defense in the next couple games. First of all, coverages and blitz schemes in the first game of preseason are usually very simple and rudimentary. Also, I'm assuming (and hoping) that Roquan Smith's holdout will be resolved by the time of the regular season.
Backup Chase Daniel [LEFT] was outplayed by his backup Tyler Bray [RIGHT].
Even though we didn't see Trubisky, both of the Bears' backup QBs weren't too bad -- something that we don't often see from the Bears. Admittedly, it's the first week of preseason, starters aren't playing on defense either, and coverages aren't going to be too sophisticated. Chase Daniel had an early interception, but it was a fluke ball that bounded off a lineman's helmet, so not Daniel's fault. He threw another interception later, but that looked more like a miscommunication between QB and receiver rather than a bad throw or bad read. He petered out quite a bit after the first drive, but a lot of that had to do with receiver Bennie Fowler III dropping passes. Fowler better pick up his play if he wants a spot on the 53-man roster.
Backup-backup QB Tyler Bray had a much better game, leading what could have been a game-tying scoring drive late in the fourth quarter. Bray didn't put many points on the board, but he was generally on-target and on-time with his throws. There was one play in the start of the fourth quarter in which he had Tanner Gentry open in the back of the end zone behind the defense. The pass was tipped out of the back of the end zone, but could have been a score if Bray had put a little more touch on it. If Bray cleans up mistakes like that and plays well in the preseason, he could possibly challenge Chase Daniel for the backup position.
Javon Wims was the stand-out Bear by making plays like this leaping sideline catch.
Aside from Fowler's drops and DeMarcus Ayer's 3rd quarter fumble, receivers showed some spark. Joshua Bellamy had some good plays early on, but the real stand-out was 7th-round draft pick Javon Wims, who made some spectacular catches and explosive runs in the final quarter of the game. I think Wims made his first reception in the closing seconds of the third quarter, but then went on to rack up almost 90 yards, including a spectacular leaping grab on the sidelines to start the 4th quarter, and a fourth down conversion that set up the Bears' final score.
He may have been playing against the Ravens' third and fourth string defenders, but Wims played like a clutch receiver. The Bears are kind of loaded at receiver for a change (Allen Robinson, Tyler Gabriel, and rookie 2nd-round pick Anthony Miller did not play), so wims might not make the 53-man roster. He will almost certainly be on the practice squad, however, and will probably be the first man up if any receivers go down with injury.
Wims didn't score a touchdown, as Tanner Gentry got that final touchdown. I'm looking forward to seeing how Gentry pans out this season. He was elevated from the practice squad in the middle of last season and showed some potential as a receiver. He had a few balls thrown to him in the second half of this game, but they were almost all either missed throws from Bray, or mis-reads by Bray or Gentry.
Running game non-existant
We also didn't see Jordan Howard or Tarik Cohen. We metaphorically also didn't see any other running backs either. Benny Cunningham broke a big run early in the game on a rather slick fake reverse. Other than that, however, Bears' running backs did absolutely nothing, and that's probably why they couldn't win the game. The Bears could not run the ball at all! It cost them on a fourth-and-inches in the 3rd quarter, when Ryan Nall got stuffed in the backfield for a loss.
The Bears must be able to convert these in the regular season!
2-point conversion a sign of aggressive offense?
I liked a lot of the offensive scheming that I saw from Nagy's offense.There was a fake reverse in the opening possession that froze up the defense a bit and allowed Benny Cunningham to break off a big run. A fullback also scored a touchdown as a receiver out of the backfield. Plays like this show that Nagy will hopefully use every weapon at his disposal to move the ball.
Nagy's willingness to spread the ball around and get a lot of players involved is a big departure from the Jay Cutler days, in which the Bears seemed determined to-a-fault to force the ball downfield. The most interesting offensive decision, however, was ultimately the game-losing one. Nagy decided to go for a two-point conversion to try to win the game in the last few minutes instead of tie. Bray didn't notice his fullback coming wide open in the flats and forced the ball out the back of the end zone to result in a one-point loss for Bears backups.
Bray didn't see his fullback coming open in the flat for the failed 2-pt conversion.
This play left me with a burning question going into the weekend. Is this an indication of Nagy's desire to run an aggressive offense? Or was this simply a desire to avoid taking a preseason game into an unnecessary overtime, and not risk further injuries in a game that is ultimately meaningless? Hopefully, it was a little of both.