Three Takeaways from Bears 27-3 win over Bengals |
If only you could bank your preseason wins and use them in the Regular Season. The Chicago Bears would be in a great spot if you could do that, as they have opened the preseason 3-0 and have looked great in the process. Sure, there have been times of struggle, which you saw during the first quarter in this one, but once things start rolling, this team can beat anyone this season.
Against a short-handed Bengals team on Saturday who elected not to play Joe Burrow, Ja'Mar Chase, and several other of their starters, it was the Bears taking advantage of that as they scored 17 unanswered points to end the game and delivered an impressive 27-3 victory. It marks the Bears' third win in as many tries this preseason, as they have now gone two straight games without allowing a touchdown. With a short week coming up, this will likely be the final time the fans will see most of these starters until week one, but that may not be a bad thing when you look at their overall performances. Here are three takeaways from Saturday's win:
One of the biggest flaws in the Bears offense the past few seasons was their lack of explosive plays. Whether it be the wrong players or an offensive coordinator who had yet to learn how to call a game, the Bears had the fewest explosive plays last season, which was why they struggled so much offensively. In an effort to change that this season, the Bears brought in a new OC in Shane Waldron and then went out to acquire as much offensive talent as possible. Well, it's safe to say that plan has worked as the Bears have shown their explosive play-making ability all preseason long, which was the case again in this one, with several passing plays traveling more than 25 yards. You also had the defense come up with several explosive plays, such as when they came away with two interceptions and clobbered the Bengals QB with perfectly timed blitzes. These types of plays have eluded this team the past few seasons, and given the way the league is played, you need explosive plays to win games. That shouldn't be an issue this season, as the Bears look like a completely different team.
It's not too often when a punter receives any recognition, but Bears rookie Tory Taylor needs to be discussed. Taken in the fourth round of this year's draft after a massive career at Iowa, Taylor is regarded as the best punter in this year's class but could become one of the best, if not the best, punter in the NFL eventually. Known for his massive leg and the ability to pin the ball deep in his opponent's territory, Taylor is the biggest X-Factor on this year's roster. Ideally, you would love your offense to score as many points as possible to avoid punting, but everyone knows that you are going to punt at some point. When that happens, you need a player who can flip the field position, and Taylor will be that guy this season. That will help this offense immensely as the pressure they have to put up points won't be as much as seasons past, knowing Taylor can pin his opponents deep and shorten the field for his offense. Now he needs to learn to punt to his coverage as opposed to over-kicking his coverage to pin his opponents as deep as possible.
There have been many bad NFL fields over the years, and Soldier Field ranks right up there with the worst. No, we are not talking about the stadium itself but the playing surface, which often draws a ton of criticism each season. We have yet to get to the regular season and there are already some concerns over the current field conditions at Solider Field. You saw it in pregame when the teams were looking over the surface, and you saw it on one of Cairo Santos' extra-point attempts when he lost his footing and fell over. This can't happen any longer, as all it will take is a wrong step from Caleb Williams, and the Bears season could be over just as fast as it started. No one is asking the Bears to scrap grass for synthetic turf or anything like that, but their field surface has been an issue for years, but for whatever reason, they have chosen to ignore it. If there ever were a time to replace it, this would be the time as Williams is the best QB to walk through the Halas Hall doors in quite sometime and has the tools to be one of the best ever to do it in Chicago. Explosiveness galore
Tory Taylor has a huge leg
Field condition concerns
