Chicago Bears Preseason Game #4: Stock Watch (Offense)

Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Bears finished off the preseason in style with a 24-0 win against the Cleveland Browns. It’s only preseason and no projected starters played in this one, but the Bears backups continued their streak of preseason dominance with a shutout performance. The Bears back-ups didn’t give up a point in the second half of the first three preseason games and kept their streak alive with a four quarter shutout of an admittedly bad Browns offense. Granted the Bears are playing established NFL players like Lamarr Houston and Willie Young on their 2nd team, but it was still a nice win for the Bears confidence and builds some momentum going into the regular season.

With final cuts due by Saturday afternoon and plenty of Bears players fighting for a place on the final 53-man roster, this was a big game for the last 20-30 guys on the roster. I will break down who did enough to earn their roster spot below and who played poorly enough to meet with the Turk tomorrow.

Stock Up

QB David Fales – Went 14/18 on the day with 2 TDs passes and a couple of nice scrambles to get out of trouble. Fales’ athleticism surprised me, I didn’t realize he had that in his bag. His numbers should have been even better with two of his incompletes being drops on catchable balls. Fales showed poise in the pocket, the ability to quickly progress through reads, and the arm to throw crisp, accurate passes. He had two highlight reel plays, one perfect read on an all-out blitz to find his hot read for a 19-yard TD and another when he floated a perfect ball in the corner of the end zone where only Ify Umodu could get it despite taking a hit while he threw it. Fales was a longshot to make the roster coming in with the Bears just signing former Bronco Zac Dysert, but Fales couldn’t have played much better and proved he belongs on someone’s roster even if it’s not the Bears.

RB Ka’Deem Carey – Another player whose back was against the wall coming into the game and Carey played like it tonight. I can’t remember a game when a Bears RB broke that many tackles since maybe Ironhead Heyward. Carey ran like a man possessed tonight with three 15-yard plus carries (1 was called back) and 2+ broken tackles on each long run. He finished the day with 12 carries for 68 yards (5.7 YPC). Carey is not a burner, but he runs with a toughness that should have earned him a spot on someone roster even if it’s not the Bears. Carey probably needed to show some special teams value tonight, which he didn’t, but he still has a decent shot at making the roster. I don’t think the Bears roster is deep enough where they can justify dropping a player who showed that much heart. There were plenty of players on the bubble who didn’t show half the effort that Carey did on Thursday. I’ll be disappointed with the new Bears brass if they don’t find a place for Carey or at least get something for him in a trade.