The Chicago Bears against the Kansas City Chiefs in their preseason finale. Here’s how the action played out during the Chiefs-Dolphins game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday. The game offered some important perspective for each team as they head into their respective regular seasons. The Bears’ offense started driving the ball with a good rhythm, then immediately sputtered. That makes head coach Ben Johnson’s job easier — less easy, that is, as he searches for answers to reverse the trend.
Caleb Williams, the most highly touted quarterback prospect probably ever, was on the field leading the offensive starters for 27 plays spanning a pair of complete quarters. He had a completion percentage of 73.3% by going 11 of 15 for 113 yards and one touchdown passing. An encouraging second half shouldn’t obscure how terrible the offense’s first drives were. They picked up just 22 yards combined on their first two drives before punting on five straight possessions.
When Tyson Bagent stepped on the field late in the game, he wasn’t the much talked about quarterback surprise of this year. Against Seattle, he finished 20-for-28 with 212 passing yards. With three touchdown passes, he certainly proved his production and captain-like qualities on the gridiron. With the game on the line, Bagent found Jahdae Walker for a game-winning touchdown connection. This play ensured his standing with the coaching staff as the bell cow.
The Bears were in a difficult position to begin with, pushing the second-and-19 back to their own 21-yard line. On this pivotal play of the game, instead of moving forward they fell backwards. Chris Jones knew this by pouncing on Williams with heavy defensive pressure. As Williams attempted to exit the pocket, Jones brought him down, breaking up the Bears’ offensive flow.
Though the unit struggled, there were flashes of Chicago’s renewal on the offensive side of the ball. Jahdae Walker caught a 6-yard TD toss from Bagent as the EIU attack came from all angles. Later, Rome Odunze was able to catch a short 3-yard touchdown pass from Williams, but there were still notable inaccuracies that limited their offensive flow.
Special teams were involved too, as Cairo Santos converted a 28-yard field goal. As the blunders were glaring during the game. A late false start penalty on Colston Loveland stalled a promising drive.
In his post-game comments, Coach Ben Johnson shared his frustration with the lack of offensive production.
“It is disappointing to me offensively for sure,” – Ben Johnson
Still, he acknowledged that there was a lot of work for the team still to do as they enter the regular season. He amplified the point about starting strong.
“If the first quarter was really any indication, it’s not good enough, so we got to get better in a hurry,” – Ben Johnson
Johnson tried to stay positive about tackling those concerns through film study and practice.
“Good news is we will be able to look at this tape and coach it up with our guys and I think it’s out of our system hopefully for us going into the regular season,” – Ben Johnson
Caleb Williams had a lot to say about how far this team can go in spite of the adversity that was faced during the game.
“We all see it in the sense of we all see what we can be,” – Caleb Williams
As the Bears prepare for their regular-season opener, there are a lot of opportunities for them to work on their offensive strategy. Their success will depend on consistent execution. Chicago’s coaching staff saw a lot of good things but glaring deficiencies in the preseason finale. They now have an abundance of film to review ahead of their Week 0 opener against Navy.
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