Bears Preseason: Week 2 Notes

• The Bears may have drafted two impact defensive players in this year’s draft in OLB Leonard Floyd and DE Jonathan Bullard.
  • The box score only gives Floyd credit for two tackles, a half-sack, and one QB hit… But I counted four additional QB pressures and he made a nice play to stuff a Pats 2-point conversion attempt. Floyd didn’t finish many plays, but was in the backfield consistently and was able to beat both single and double-team blocks for the second week in a row.
  • Jonathan Bullard’s stat line is exactly the same as Floyd’s but he was just as disruptive despite fewer snaps. There was a stretch in the 2nd half when Bullard was clearly the first guy off the ball on three consecutive plays. His burst is impressive and Bullard also showed the ability to shed blocks and get in the backfield consistently.
• The Bears backup WRs were disappointing. Backup QB Brian Hoyer was a big part of the problem which I’ll examine later in detail, but the Bears 2nd string receivers (J. Bellamy,  D. Thompson) were targeted nine times and just had two catches for 30 yards (both by Bellamy).
  • Bellamy dropped three catchable balls, with one in end zone again (just like last week).
  • Thompson couldn’t get much separation, the throws from Hoyer didn’t give him much of a chance, and he was held without a catch despite getting snaps with all three strings. If that wasn’t bad enough, he got hurt on the last drive of the game and it sounds serious. Thompson was seen leaving the field in a walking boot on his left ankle.
  • Rookie slot receiver Daniel Braverman was held without a catch and struggled again as a punt returner. He’s still got a good shot to make the final 53-man roster, but needs to start performing in games like he does in practice.

• The Bears backup TEs were impressive. After the Bears got zero production from their tight ends in week one, the veteran backups (Moeaki & Housler) stepped up in week two.
  • Tony Moeaki had four catches for 28 yards including a clutch first-down catch on 3rd & 11. He left the game with a knee injury, but it wasn’t the knee that has kept Moeaki out for two of the last three seasons and isn’t considered serious.
  • Rob Housler is a very similar player to Zach Miller, a tight end with good length (6’5) and exceptional athleticism (4.55 40-time, 37″ vertical, 6.90 3-cone) who hasn’t been able to stay healthy for a full season. Housler showed off some of that athleticism on a 52-yard catch, grabbing a short crossing route, breaking a tackle, and then running down the sideline to get the Bears inside the Pats 10-yard line.  He also made a nice catch in traffic for a successful 2-point conversion.
• QB Brian Hoyer looks awful. After a bad performance hidden by decent stats (7/10, 81 yards, 1 INT) in week one, Hoyer was even worse in week two. His first pass of the game was picked off and almost returned for a pick-6. Hoyer managed to single-handedly swing the momentum of a game the Bears were dominating with one pass and then continued to suck until being replaced by Connor Shaw in the 4th quarter. The Bears didn’t get a first down with Hoyer under center until almost a full half of play. For the game Hoyer was 4/14 for 85 yards and an interception. Hopefully, David Fales gets a shot to win the backup job in week three’s preseason game.
• Bears safeties might still be a problem. Adrian Amos had a solid rookie year, but he was far from perfect.
  • Amos’ biggest flaw was not being aggressive enough to force turnovers and he hasn’t looked much different in the preseason so far. Amos looked tentative and almost afraid to commit to an attack angle on ball carriers in week two. Not making mistakes is valuable, but Amos has the potential to be more than that. He needs to start showing it.
  • Harold Jones-Quartey had an inconsistent rookie season, which was expected from a DII player. He’s expected to make some significant improvements this year, but HJQ has a rough game in week two. He had a bad defensive holding call that negated a Sam Acho sack and was also beat in coverage for two catches that I saw. HJQ is the favorite to start across from Amos, but will need to play much better than he did in week two for the Bears to have a decent safety combo in 2016.
  • Deon Bush made a couple nice plays this week with a pass breakup and two tackles. He almost knocked a TD pass free with his helmet, but was a step slow to react. Bush left the game with an injury, but walked off on his own and it wasn’t considered serious at the time. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bush wins the starting gig over HJQ by the end of the preseason.

Next: Bears Week 2 - Game Notes