The Chicago Bears have moved to 2-0 in the preseason this year after a 27-11 win over the Seattle Seahawks on the road. While the starters played only one drive, it was a positive direction for the team with a strong performance from most of the players on both sides of the ball.
The biggest takeaway is the offensive success early in the game. Yes, Justin Fields and company were not able to find the endzone, but they moved the ball down the field on the first drive of the game, and Justin Fields looked very comfortable — especially on the designed rollouts. A functional offense is being born before our eyes and it almost feels surreal to see things becoming easy for Fields. It is important to note that things were not necessarily good on offense, but they were a lot better than last game.
The Chicago Bears first-team offense looked a lot sharper this week
Cole Kmet looked sharp in his limited reps, and it seems that Fields will be targeting Kmet even more than we saw last year. Kmet and Darnell Mooney will be the driving force of the offense this year, and the small sample size we have seen in the preseason is very telling of how things will look come Week 1.
Teven Jenkins started at right guard today, and he looked a lot better than what we have seen from him at tackle. While the Chicago Bears hoped he would be the tackle of the future, he seems to fit at guard, especially with his mauling blocking style and his lack of arm length. His pass protection still is shaky at best, but at guard, he can utilize his strengths better.
The rest of the offensive line was not ideal today, and it’s clear Fields will not have a clean pocket on most attempts. The line did do well in the run game, especially the second and third stringers. Still, the Bears need to continue to put different groups together to give the offense the best possible shot for success.
The offensive backups did a solid job today, especially Nathan Peterman who played for most of the second half. None of the other wide receivers did much to stick out, but we did see Velus Jones Jr. make his debut. He contributed mostly on special teams but did have a fumble early on a kick return. Still, it was clear how electric his kick and punt returns can be. He could be a real playmaker with the ball in his hands.
Overall, the offense looked a lot sharper, but there is much more that needs to be done. The offensive line just needs to be better, because Fields is going to get hit too many times again. Someone needs to step up in the receiver room as well because things have been mostly ugly thus far. We will see how the offense builds on a solid improvement this week.