Chicago Bears roster risers and fallers after Colt’s preseason game originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Hardly any Bears starter took the field for their second preseason game of the year. Instead, we mainly saw second and third stringers take on the Colts. While that didn’t make for the most exciting football game ever played, it did give Bears coaches a chance to take a long look at players fighting for a roster spot and guys fighting for position on the depth chart. Here’s who helped themselves on Saturday and who hope to make a stronger impression when the Bears wrap up their preseason slate next week.
RISERS
D’ONTA FOREMAN
Khalil Herbert stole the show in the team’s first preseason game with his long touchdown scalper on a screen pass. In Week 2 of the preseason, Foreman got to show more of what he can do, working behind the second team offensive line. He carried the ball three times for 12 yards and added a catch for six yards. Foreman showed both good power to get through tacklers and vision to follow blockers. The reception was smooth and something we haven’t seen much in Foreman’s career. In 43 games, Foreman has only 23 catches for 265 yards and two scores. If Foreman continues to tape that ability to catch passes, he could play a new role for himself on offense.
Not to be outdone, Johnson entered the game after Foreman and picked up where Foreman left off. Without live tackling in practice, it was difficult for Johnson to showcase his physical running style this summer. He had plenty of chances to show off his hard running with seven carries for 32 yards against the Colts. However, Johnson showed that he is more than just a man who is hard to put down. On several wears, he showed veteran-like patience for gaps that developed in front of him, then sudden speed to quickly hit gaps as they emerged. Earlier this summer, the Bears gave valuable first-team representatives to Trestan Ebner and Travis Homer. It will be interesting to see if coaches make Johnson the true No. 3 RB after the game.
The first real surprise of the match was when undrafted free agent Bagent entered the match ahead of Nathan Peterman. That was a change from the first preseason game when Bagent was the last QB off the bench. After the attack sputtered with PJ Walker at the helm, Bagent gave the team a real spark. Looking sharp, he hit some quick completions to get into a groove and made a particularly impressive throw to Nsimba Webster as he rolled to the right. Other highlights included an RPO rep where he drew the ball and then delivered a strike to Joe Reed for 11 yards, and a quick QB sneak to take down a first on 3rd and 1. Bagent closed his big day off with a two-yard touchdown run to cap off a 17-game, 97-yard drive. He finished 9-10 for 76 yards, with the rushing touchdown.
FALLERS
Stevenson has been battling Terell Smith for a starting outside cornerback job and was given the chance to lead the league last week after an impressive preseason debut against the Titans. Stevenson showed the same good tackling ability this week, but had two major flaws. The first was an unwise unnecessary roughness flag for throwing the Kenyan Drake to the ground after already dragging Drake out of bounds. The second was a chance to get down with an interception in the endzone. Stevenson did a great job reading the game and positioned himself to make a splash play, but Stevenson let the ball go straight through his hands, allowing Juwann Winfree to reel in the ball for a touchdown.
As in Stevenson’s day, St. Brown had a chance to make some catches with DJ Moore, Darnell Mooney, Chase Claypool and Tyler Scott all on the sidelines. But St. Brown did almost nothing with his chance and didn’t have the best reputation when the ball came his way. St. Brown curled on a 3rd-and-12 play and didn’t create much separation, if any. He still had a chance to make a catch due to his size advantage and Walker hit him, but St. Brown dropped the ball. The Bears have given EQ some first-team reps while hurting other wide receivers, but he’ll need to produce more against second-tier players if he wants to work his way up the depth chart.
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