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If Bears' play in practice games is any sign, look out when it's for real
If you were judging preseason and training camp by the piss and vinegar the Bears displayed in joint practices with the Patriots, things would be pretty upbeat.
If you're considering everything else from the first practice in Bourbonnais to now after a lifeless 23-7 exhibition loss to the Chiefs, there's reason to be concerned they're heading aimlessly down a path to nowhere.
The Bears avoided being shut out at Soldier Field for the second time this preseason when Connor Shaw came off the bench to relieve backup quarterback Brian Hoyer and tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Meredith. That's a good thing because before this year, in the illustrious history of the NFL's cornerstone franchise, the Bears were shut out only 10 times in preseason, with goose eggs coming against teams like the College All-Stars, Texas All-Stars and Milwaukee Badgers.
Sadly, Shaw left minutes later with a gruesome left leg injury, ending any hope he had of unseating Hoyer as the No. 2.
"A little bit like our first game (22-0 loss to Broncos Aug. 11), except we were seven points better," coach John Fox said. "Obviously, not as good as we would have liked."
Yes, the Bears were missing right guard Kyle Long and tight end Zach Miller, important pieces to the offense. But they were abysmal in the first half against a Chiefs defense that lacked Justin Houston, Tamba Hali and Eric Berry, arguably Kansas City's three best players on that side of the ball. Yes, teams want to keep it vanilla in the preseason and not show too much but when your basic plays aren't working, where's the reason for optimism? Two first downs, 18 net yards and zero points was enough to bring out the boo birds among the 48,377 in attendance as Jay Cutler was sacked and fumbled on the final play before halftime.
The Bears were loud in three practices with the Patriots. They were boisterous. They talked a bunch of trash. They weren't going to be pushed around by New England, which has reached the playoffs seven consecutive years. They made a point and left Foxborough, Mass., believing they were better off for the experience.
But before and since there have been a rash of injuries and the offense has been dreadful. They call it preseason for a reason but if you're going to refer to it as glorified practice then keep in mind there is an old adage that you play like you practice.
The talent is far superior to what the Bears had in 2004 when Terry Shea's offense was a joke. Shea, of course, was trying to run Mike Martz's Rams offense and it was a disaster. Dowell Loggains is trying to run "our system," which is what Fox has called the offense the team wants to build on after last year's coordinator Adam Gase departed for the Dolphins. Shea certainly had more coaching experience at the time and there's no questioning Loggains has better skill position players. But it looks like the Bears are in need of more than just a little fine tuning.
Former Titans running back Chris Johnson, who ran for 2,006 yards back in 2009, wasn't out of Tennessee long in 2014 when he labeled Loggains "predictable" as a play caller.
"A lot of the plays when the offensive coordinator was calling them, they were predictable," Johnson told ESPN. "Everybody could tell what was coming."
It's much too early to tell if that is a criticism of Loggains that will be applied here. If Fox sticks to the plan he used a year ago, the starters will not play Thursday at Cleveland in the exhibition finale. That means there are six practices and two walk-throughs between now and the Sept. 11 opener at Houston.
"It's preseason three," left tackle Charles Leno said. "We have some detail things to work on. We know what we have to do. We execute better and we will take care of it."
Cutler missed throws. Alshon Jeffery dropped a throw that would have gone for a big gain. Kevin White ran a bad route and has been largely invisible in preseason. The line didn't pass or run block particularly well. The hope is the return of players who have been missing, and you can add wide receiver Eddie Royal to that list, will provide a boost.
"We're going to kind of have guys in flux coming into the lineup that we've been without," Cutler said. "It's going to help us, make us a little more dynamic and give us a little more explosion. We just have to keep working. The alternative is to say that we're not going to be very good, and that's not going to work for us."
Preseason results don't matter but when you struggle executing, that's an issue that can carry over when wins and losses count.
bmbiggs@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BradBiggs
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-biggs-bears-spt-0828-20160827-column.html
If you were judging preseason and training camp by the piss and vinegar the Bears displayed in joint practices with the Patriots, things would be pretty upbeat.
If you're considering everything else from the first practice in Bourbonnais to now after a lifeless 23-7 exhibition loss to the Chiefs, there's reason to be concerned they're heading aimlessly down a path to nowhere.
The Bears avoided being shut out at Soldier Field for the second time this preseason when Connor Shaw came off the bench to relieve backup quarterback Brian Hoyer and tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Meredith. That's a good thing because before this year, in the illustrious history of the NFL's cornerstone franchise, the Bears were shut out only 10 times in preseason, with goose eggs coming against teams like the College All-Stars, Texas All-Stars and Milwaukee Badgers.
Sadly, Shaw left minutes later with a gruesome left leg injury, ending any hope he had of unseating Hoyer as the No. 2.
"A little bit like our first game (22-0 loss to Broncos Aug. 11), except we were seven points better," coach John Fox said. "Obviously, not as good as we would have liked."
Yes, the Bears were missing right guard Kyle Long and tight end Zach Miller, important pieces to the offense. But they were abysmal in the first half against a Chiefs defense that lacked Justin Houston, Tamba Hali and Eric Berry, arguably Kansas City's three best players on that side of the ball. Yes, teams want to keep it vanilla in the preseason and not show too much but when your basic plays aren't working, where's the reason for optimism? Two first downs, 18 net yards and zero points was enough to bring out the boo birds among the 48,377 in attendance as Jay Cutler was sacked and fumbled on the final play before halftime.
The Bears were loud in three practices with the Patriots. They were boisterous. They talked a bunch of trash. They weren't going to be pushed around by New England, which has reached the playoffs seven consecutive years. They made a point and left Foxborough, Mass., believing they were better off for the experience.
But before and since there have been a rash of injuries and the offense has been dreadful. They call it preseason for a reason but if you're going to refer to it as glorified practice then keep in mind there is an old adage that you play like you practice.
The talent is far superior to what the Bears had in 2004 when Terry Shea's offense was a joke. Shea, of course, was trying to run Mike Martz's Rams offense and it was a disaster. Dowell Loggains is trying to run "our system," which is what Fox has called the offense the team wants to build on after last year's coordinator Adam Gase departed for the Dolphins. Shea certainly had more coaching experience at the time and there's no questioning Loggains has better skill position players. But it looks like the Bears are in need of more than just a little fine tuning.
Former Titans running back Chris Johnson, who ran for 2,006 yards back in 2009, wasn't out of Tennessee long in 2014 when he labeled Loggains "predictable" as a play caller.
"A lot of the plays when the offensive coordinator was calling them, they were predictable," Johnson told ESPN. "Everybody could tell what was coming."
It's much too early to tell if that is a criticism of Loggains that will be applied here. If Fox sticks to the plan he used a year ago, the starters will not play Thursday at Cleveland in the exhibition finale. That means there are six practices and two walk-throughs between now and the Sept. 11 opener at Houston.
"It's preseason three," left tackle Charles Leno said. "We have some detail things to work on. We know what we have to do. We execute better and we will take care of it."
Cutler missed throws. Alshon Jeffery dropped a throw that would have gone for a big gain. Kevin White ran a bad route and has been largely invisible in preseason. The line didn't pass or run block particularly well. The hope is the return of players who have been missing, and you can add wide receiver Eddie Royal to that list, will provide a boost.
"We're going to kind of have guys in flux coming into the lineup that we've been without," Cutler said. "It's going to help us, make us a little more dynamic and give us a little more explosion. We just have to keep working. The alternative is to say that we're not going to be very good, and that's not going to work for us."
Preseason results don't matter but when you struggle executing, that's an issue that can carry over when wins and losses count.
bmbiggs@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BradBiggs
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-biggs-bears-spt-0828-20160827-column.html
On both counts.
