Dhruv Koul shares his in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the Bears-Seahawks preseason game at Lumen Field. Follow him on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
SEATTLE — The Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks faced off in the second preseason game on Thursday night. Five days after their preseason opener against Kansas City, the Bears traveled ~1,800 miles to beautiful Seattle for their second one.
The short turnaround felt a bit unprecedented for the preseason… and the Bears essentially said as much this week.
The Bears completely dominated the game, but the more important thing was the evaluation of these players. Some thoughts and observations from the game below.
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Thoughts and Observations
1. A solid opening drive for the first-team offense resulted in a field goal by Cairo Santos. Justin Fields displayed some quicker processing and cleaner mechanics, including a very nice boot and completion to Cole Kmet. Speaking Kmet, he gained close to 31 yards himself on that drive. The right side of the offensive line showed leakiness, unfortunately, and that continues to be a point of concern. But it was good to see the offense rewarded with points.
Cairo. 3-0.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) August 19, 2022
2. Welcome to the NFL, Velus Jones Jr. After returning the opening kickoff of the game near the 30-yard line, he fumbled (and recovered)…
Upon getting a punt return opportunity, he promptly returned it 48 yards. His speed/vision/running ability was evident on that return. You can see why the Bears think he’ll be a great contributor to special teams, in addition to any role he takes on offense.
For someone with his play making ability and speed, the more touches he gets, the better.
3. Trevor Siemian is an outstanding backup QB, especially in this scheme. He’s operating the offense efficiently, smartly, and looks like a solid player, if not spectacular in any way.
Along these lines, he made an incredible, quick play to Isaiah Coulter to avoid a sack (who made an awesome catch himself). Matt Eberflus needed to challenge that… that has to improve during the regular season. It cost the Bears a first down.
Kind of inexcusable that Matt Eberflus didn't challenge that.
Whatever that operation is needs to improve.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) August 19, 2022
4. I was a big fan of Dazz Newsome’s when he came out of UNC. He caught my eye when scouting Sam Howell, and I thought he’d be a sneaky player for Chicago. Unfortunately, that dream seems to be dying. His punt return opportunities will go to Velus Jones Jr., and he’s just not capitalizing enough on offense, with a tough first-half drop. Bummer.
Yeah, my Dazz Newsome big contributor dreams are slowly dying.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) August 19, 2022
5. Overall, pretty impressed with Teven Jenkins’ debut at the starting RG spot. He wasn’t perfect, but he showed he can play in that spot. If he can hang on to that starting spot, that’s huge for the Bears.
Likewise for Kyler Gordon, who displayed excellent speed on a blitz attempt and solid instincts. Good homecoming for the Bears’ first pick in the 2022 NFL draft.
6. I was a little wary of the “HITS” principles and methodology because the “gym teacher” mentality can often be oversold. But it’s clear that this team has bought in and their effort/hustle jumps out at you. They’ve been significantly faster and more disciplined than both the Chiefs’ and Seahawks’ overall rosters. That COULD translate to better results on the field this season than their roster talent level really SHOULD.
7. Trestan Ebner left the game with an ankle injury — original designation was Questionable, and he was later downgraded to Doubtful. That’s not good. I legitimately feel he could challenge for the RB2 role. And now, we have to hope he doesn’t miss much time.
#Bears Injury Update:
RB Trestan Ebner (Ankle) Doubtful.— Bears Communications (@BearsPR) August 19, 2022
8. !!!
The Bears' special teams unit looks to be a major strength right now.
For a team that will probably rely heavily on field position early on, this has been impressive from Richard Hightower's unit.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) August 19, 2022
9. Isaiah Coulter made some nice plays tonight. He’s going to make the WR depth decision more difficult with tonight’s performance.
Isaiah Coulter is playing well tonight.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) August 19, 2022
10. I’m impressed with the team’s discipline through two games. Limited penalties, and for the most part, knowing where they need to be. This stuff matters.
11. Enjoy the preseason finale next week against the tragic circus that is the Cleveland Browns. Real football is getting here, slowly but surely.
Follow Dhruv on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
Move Fields to WR, make Siemian QB1 this season, draft a QB next season, and Siemian can be the transitional QB next season. By the time the Bears are in contention again, Fields will be near the end of his rookie deal; and the new regime can get their own QB in there.
Right side of OL, along with OC position still seems to be “leaky”. Fields also seems to be thinking a bit too much about his mechanics, and doesn’t seem as comfortable as Siemian does…yet. He will get better, though.
Ebner will likely sit out next week and has 3 weeks to heal up. He will be a contributor this year and play a lot on 3d downs. I thought he ran inside better than advertised. That was good to see. O-line remains a work in progress. Fields looked calm and confident in spite of the fact he was running for his life too much. Hustle was evident, especially on D. V. Jones looks like a fantastic weapon. Kmet looked like a solid veteran in passing game and blocked pretty well too. Overall, the team looked professional and ready to… Read more »
The HITS principle is exactly what this team needed. Nagy never held players accountable (BoJack is perfect example). Refreshing to see great effort!
Good to see some improvement but oline was still not good enough on most of Justins plays