The Chicago Bears are (preseason) champions! Hang the banner. What a thrilling opening to the regular season this month has been. I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t been nice to see the Bears in some sort of win column. While I don’t take preseason wins too seriously, I do take roster depth seriously and I think I speak for all Bears fans when I say that general manager Ryan Poles has done an amazing job.
After a successful 34-21 routing of the Chiefs, the Bears have shown lots of depth. The easiest to spot is quarterback. Tyson Bagent came out of the gates swinging hard and fast. I loved his confidence in the pocket and how quickly he got the ball out, especially to number 83 Nsimba Webster. Bagent also proved he can be a mobile QB getting throws out on the run and even diving in for a (overturned due to defensive holding) touchdown. While Nsimba Webster is not making the 53 man roster, this Chiefs game solidified what we all know about Tyson Bagent. Bagent is QB2. As for the other two QB’s… I think Rypien did a good job. He had some good quick releases to Tyler Scott, but he also had multiple over-throws. I like Rypien and I think he could be a QB2 on another team, but Rypien is on a 1 year $1.1M contract. Austin Reed is on a 3 year $2.8M contract. We could have Austin Reed for 3 full years as a competent QB3 (possible QB2 down the road) for less per year. That is good value at a QB3 position. I do not think the Bears should keep Rypien.
Other offensive notes – running back Travis Homer is getting cut, and I think RB Ian Wheeler gets cut. Like it or not, the Bears are invested in Velus Jones Jr. Velus is making the running back squad. He performed better in this Chiefs game and he is a proven and athletic NFL player. Lastly, I really like the O-Line so far. It is going to be so fun watching a Bears O-Line not give up constant sacks. I do say this with trepidation.
Defensively, I oscillated between ”this defense is good” and ”this defense is mid”. There were a lot of missed tackles that were really frustrating to see. Ultimately I think the defense from the Chiefs game was good, but we need someone else on defensive tackle. There were too many times where we were saved by hero plays. Speaking of, HUGE shout out to Reddy Steward who prevented a Chiefs TD and later scored a pick 6. I absolutely LOVE this guy, he was a true Monster of the Midway last night. Adrian Colbert also had a hand in last night’s defensive hero ball effort. I also really like Micah Baskerville, I thought he was putting great pressure on the Chiefs QB.
My 53 man roster predictions will come next week. It is going to be interesting seeing who makes the WR room, RB room, O-Line starting jobs, and DT room. I think we have phenomenal depth so far, just need a DT and I’d say we’re good to make a run at the NFC North title…
Reddy Steward - The Turnover Machine pictured below
Agree with the analysis of QB2 and 3. Bagent looks great and really seems like a shoe-in for QB2. I also like Austin Reed, and I think he's shown up a lot in the preseason. He seems like a much better value pick over Rypien.
I also agree that Velus Jones looks much better at RB than Ian Wheeler, and I think this game really made that decision a lot easier for Poles.