Courtney Cronin
The momentum constructed up by the Chicago Bears from a powerful week of apply and shutout victory over the Buffalo Payments rapidly vanished Friday evening in the course of the group's third preseason recreation in Kansas Metropolis.
A recreation that ended with a dramatic walk-off landing when the Bears' backups thundered again from a 17-point second-half deficit to beat the Chiefs 29-27 began in a means that irked coach Ben Johnson.
“Offensively, the primary two possessions was actually sloppy soccer that has plugged us out and in of camp to date, and sadly that is what we bought right here tonight,” Johnson mentioned.
Quarterback Caleb Williams and the offensive starters performed 27 snaps over two full quarters within the Bears' preseason finale at GEHA Area at Arrowhead Stadium.
Chicago's first two drives netted 22 whole yards and ended with consecutive punts. On the Bears' first play of their first drive, Williams fumbled an change with huge receiver Olamide Zaccheaus on a jet sweep. On the following play, tight finish Colston Loveland was flagged for a false begin. The Bears confronted second-and-19 from their very own 21-yard line and couldn't acquire any momentum.
On the offense's subsequent drive, Williams held onto the ball for almost six seconds earlier than being sacked by Chiefs defensive sort out Chris Jones as he tried to flee the pocket. That turned a second-and-3 from close to midfield into third-and-8, and the drive's progress rapidly dissipated.
Johnson mentioned he felt that the Bears have been shifting previous routine points that had hindered the offense earlier in coaching camp.
“It's disappointing to me offensively for certain,” Johnson mentioned. “I assumed that we had labored our means out of that.
“If the primary quarter was actually any indication, it is not ok, so we bought to get higher in a rush. Excellent news is we will take a look at this tape and coach it up with our guys and I believe it is out of our system hopefully for us going into the common season. We bought to guarantee that we begin sooner on offense and on protection.”
The Bears did not start to search out their groove till the offense's third drive resulted in a 28-yard discipline objective by Cairo Santos. Nearing the top of the second quarter, Williams and the starters had their probability at redemption and to check their situational soccer expertise with a 78-yard drive that was capped off with a 3-yard landing to huge receiver Rome Odunze. The previous first-rounder caught three consecutive passes to assist the Bears reduce into Kansas Metropolis's lead and path 20-10 at halftime.
Williams, who completed 11-of-15 for 113 yards and a landing whereas finishing 73.3% of his passes, acknowledged that Friday spotlighted how a lot work must be accomplished with the Bears' offense.
“All of us see it within the sense of all of us see what we could be,” Williams mentioned. “All of us see these flashes and there is typically some fairly good moments in apply and in video games that we have had to date.”
Williams and the starters got here out of the locker room in road garments for the second half as backup quarterback Tyson Bagent entered the sport. Two days after signing a two-year, $10 million contract extension, Bagent went 20-of-28 for 212 yards and three touchdowns, together with the sport winner he threw to rookie undrafted free agent Jahdae Walker.
Working with 1:29 on the clock and no timeouts, Bagent focused his receivers close to or on the sideline so they might protect the clock whereas persevering with to maneuver the ball downfield. He focused Walker 4 occasions in the course of the group's last drive, which ended with a 6-yard landing.
With simply over two weeks till the Bears host the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 8, Johnson mentioned he should assess the course the offense has been getting into over the previous few weeks to find out whether or not he must reduce what he has been asking of gamers based mostly on the kind of progress he's seeing.
“And to be sincere with you, we would need to ebb and movement a bit bit after that opening recreation,” Johnson mentioned. “Often it will take up till the bye week. I believe it is positioned at simply the appropriate time (Week 5) to essentially determine who we're and what we'll be for the remainder of the season.”
