What I learned from the Bears' preseason loss to the Giants

After both defenses traded three-and-outs early, the Giants finally found their way on the scoreboard in a 41-6 win over the Bears in preseason action Monday night. For you Bear fans that aren’t throwing your computers away in despair, here’s what I took away from this (meaningless) loss.

Anyone expecting a big night from Roy Williams (this guy) was sorely disappointed. Williams had his hands on two near catches in the first quarter, but failed to bring any in for the reception. Nice game Roy. Somehow I get the feeling I’ll be aching over near-catches from Roy most of the season. It’s not a surefire hint of things to come, but he didn’t look great. Honestly, he hasn’t had a lot of time to work with Cutler, so I’m giving him a pass… for now.

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Special teams were abysmal. That’s the brunt of it, to be honest. Kick coverage was awful, as we likely let Devin Thomas earn a roster spot with his multiple dynamic returns. Speaking of, Johnny Knox kept deciding to return it from deep in his endzone, leading to consistently poor field position. Both punters had their fair share of misfires, including a block of rookie Spencer Manning that led to a Giants score. Robbie Gould missed a 40-yarder wide right, even though I have NO idea why Smith even needed to kick a third field goal. So Dave Toub’s unit has some shoring up to do, as those were mostly first team mistakes.

We did see some exciting plays from the Bear offense tonight, despite the final score. The first quarter saw a deep sideline throw from Cutler to Hester in stride for 37 yards, immediately followed by a Matt Forte screen pass that saw Forte break free for 42, setting up the first Gould field goal. Still, there’s obvious work to be done by Mike Martz. As for the still-maligned offensive line, they held up pretty well against the Giant pass-rushers. Keeping Cutler upright is always a win. (He was sacked once on a scramble out of the pocket, for those wondering.) Cutler had a decent night, but his stats aren’t overwhelming. His receivers didn’t help with several dropped passes. *Cough*Williams*Cough*

Defensively, the Bears didn’t look extraordinarily crisp. Without Lance Briggs, back-up Brian Iwuh came in and performed well, as did Tim Jennings. Major Wright, on the other hand, whiffed on a few separate tackles and was noticeably out of position on several plays. Dude needs work.

If anyone’s over-reacting to this game, take your craziness somewhere else. It’s the second PRESEASON game. I don’t care how bad they looked. I’ve seen plenty of awesome regular season teams suck it up something awful in preseason. It’s not a big deal to me. The Bears were still pretty vanilla on defense and didn’t care to tackle and get themselves hurt on a night when the Giants saw four players (including their starting corner) leave the game. The Giants can have this one. I really do not care whatsoever. Bring on the Titans!

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