Chicago Bears vs Jacksonville Jaguars: Top 5 Players to Watch

Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

2. Jimmy Clausen

Head coach Marc Trestman doesn’t want to make anything official, but Jimmy Clausen moved ahead of Jordan Palmer to be Jay Cutler‘s backup after a strong showing in the preseason debut.

"“Right now, we’re going to have Jimmy relieve Jay,” Trestman said. “He’ll have the shot whenever Jay comes out of the game, whenever that is. But both of them will play."

What makes Clausen’s performance impressive is that he’s only been around since June and hasn’t had the benefit of a full offseason program.  I’m not sure if the Bears can win any games if Clausen has to step in for Cutler like Josh McCown did last season but I think they’d have a better shot with Clausen than they would with Palmer.  Palmer won’t go down without a fight, so keep an eye on him as well.  It’s unlikely the Bears would keep both Palmer and Clausen and considering that the Bears will play the starters more in Game 3 against the Seahawks and will unlikely play any key backups in the preseason finale, this game is a HUGE key to see how the backup quarterback position shakes out.