Bear Digest

Where the Bears Need to Go from Here Depends on Ryan Poles

Analysis: The first preseason game now in the rear view mirror, the Bears have a better idea of their talent and at least one really big issue needs to be resolved going forward.

Gene Chamberlain

Austin Booker misses on the tackle attempt as Jamree Kromah closes in from the side to make it in the Bears' 21-17 win.
Austin Booker misses on the tackle attempt as Jamree Kromah closes in from the side to make it in the Bears' 21-17 win. / Kevin Whitlock / Massillon Independent / USA TODAY NETWORK
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What the Bear did in Thursday's preseason game is history.

What's important is where they go from here.

The next week of practice is a longer one. While former Bears Steve McMichael, Devin Hester and Julius Pepper are being enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday, the current Bears will start working toward the second preseason game, a road game in Buffalo but not until Aug. 10.

They emerged from the opener with a greater sense of clarity about what some of their players on the back end of the roster can do in actual live game conditions.

Until the preseason game, there hadn't been a 100% full contact drill or scrimmage in training camp, so they needed to see how players responded to the physical aspect of the game. What needs to be remembered about that win going forward was for 28 of the 42 minutes their second-team and third-team players were pushed around and they trailed 17-7 before Brett Rypien and Collin Johnson turned it around.

Here's what needs to be up next for them.

1. Sign Yannick Ngakoue

Or they should at least bring in some more edge rushers for a look.

One of the main competitors they have in the marketplace for extra pass rush help off the edge is the Dallas Cowboys and, according to that team, Carl Lawson, Shaka Toney, former Bears edge Al-Quadin Muhammad and Justin Hollins all came to their camp Thursday for a workout.

Lawson has 27 sacks and, after Ngakoue, would have to be considered next-best Bears option.

The marketplace is not going to simply sit there forever while Ryan Poles ponders whether to sign one.

Ngakoue is the best of the rest and they need him because Thursday night did not show Austin Booker to be a young phenom and draft day steal. He did not start. When he came in, he had a few rushes with minor impact but he made little impact on the rest of the plays.

BEARS SIGN FORMER SEAHAWKS CORNERBACK

They didn't look at pass rusher Jake Martin at all, so apparently they're considering him their third defensive end and plan on him as a key contributor in the pass rush rotation.

Martin is with his fifth team in seven seasons, has never made more than four sacks in a season and has only once had more than 375 plays in a season, which comes out to only 22 plays a game. He averages only three sacks a year. Sacks aren't everything, especially in the scheme the Bears use. Pressure is more critical. But Martin has only made more than nine pressures in two seasons during his career.

Dominique Robinson and Khalid Kareem look even less prepared to step into the edge rush rotation than Martin and Booker, and neither looked capable in the preseason game of elevating the line. Coach Matt Eberflus stressed they were playing vanilla on defense. Vanilla doesn't necessarily have to mean a team plays without a pass rush, the way the Bears did Thursday.


There's no sense wasting another week when an edge rusher could be in training camp, getting into football shape and working toward the season opener.

Make the phone call.

2. Get Caleb Williams on the Field

The preliminary to preliminaries is over. No one likes playing that Hall of Fame Game. It's one extra useless game to ascertain nothing more than what they would from the other three preseason games prior to roster cutdown on Aug. 27. 

So they need to get Williams on a field and facing a live pass rush for a brief time in Buffalo this week because he hasn't had to do it in practice and won't until Cincinnati comes to Chicago Aug. 15. Last Eberflus addressed this, he didn't guarantee Williams would play this week.

They need to see how Williams handles pressure in his face, how well he stands in when the heat around him become higher. There were a lot of footballs batted down in their last practice. Is this going to continue in a live game?

3. Full First-Team Involvement

The backups managed to perform relatively free from most execution issues that had been plaguing the first team, like cadence problem leading to pre-snap penalties.

The starters were the ones committing these types of mistakes, particularly offensive linemen and tight ends. They need to iron this out in practice and also in the coming preseason game.

The running game hadn't operated against a live defense with tackling to the ground but backups Roschon Johnson and Khalil Herbert did get the chance to face this in Thursday's game.

D'Andre Swift did not have that opportunity and needs it to get timing down behind the blocking scheme.

BACKUP QB CONTROVERSY? BRETT RYPIEN LEADS 21-17 BEARS WIN

BEARS PRESEASON GAME 1 REPORT CARD AGAINST TEXANS

NEW BEARS PASSING COMBINATION SHOULDERS LOAD AGAINST TEXANS IN WIN

DJ MOORE AND JAYLON JOHNSON CAN ONLY BENEFIT FROM THIS SLIGHT

4. Heal Up

Guard Nate Davis, slot cornerback Kyler Gordon, running backs Ian Wheeler and Travis Homer and linebacker Noah Sewell were dealing with some type of health-related issues keeping them out of practice and the game.

And rookie third-round pick Kiran Amegadjie has yet to practice with the team since being selected in April due to surgery after an injury last October.

5. School of Hard Knocks

Bears training camp goes on display for the world to see on HBO starting Tuesday. The first episode of HBO's Hard Knocks airs. They've been shooting since just before camp started and new episodes will air each week.

"I told the guys in the beginning, just be authentic, be yourself," Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. "That's good enough. Trust me. We're working. We've got winning habits here. And winning habits you keep doing right, things are going to go right. Just do that."

Sometimes the cameras pick up more than what teams want.

Will it happen here?

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain

GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.