Fox calls Chicago Bears' 27-10 preseason win not bad
As preseason openers go, Thursday night's 20-10 Bears victory the Miami Dolphins was fairly typical.
“For the first game, the first time they've ever executed the offense in a game, not bad," Bears coach John Fox said of the first team. "Too many penalties. It took us a minute to get rolling. I think we had one good drive in there with the first group.”
The Bears' first possession started with right tackle Jordan Mills' false start, his first of 2, and ended three plays later when Jay Cutler's short pass glanced off the hands of running back Jacquizz Rodgers. Rodgers started in place of Matt Forte, who was given the night off.
Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery also did not play after suffering a calf injury before the Bears left Bourbonnais. He is in a protective boot and on crutches as a precautionary measure. Fox said Jeffery's status is day-to-day.
On the Bears' second possession, Cutler found tight end Martellus Bennett in stride on a slant for 17 yards.
That seemed to open up the run game. Rodgers, who had a total of zero yards on his first 3 carries, bolted up the middle through a huge hole for 15 yards, then added gains of 5 and 6 yards.
Rookie Jeremy Langford spelled Rodgers and picked up 6 yards on a screen pass and 5 on the ground. Despite a 13-yard reception by Royal, the drive bogged down, but Robbie Gould got the Bears on the board with a 48-yard field goal with 12:28 left in the half.
That ended the night for the offensive starters.
The Bears' first-team defense was unimpressive in its only series.
“Really the first drive was about, we didn't execute very well on third down,” Fox said, noting the Dolphins converted 2 of 3 third downs and scored on a fourth-and-2.
But after that, the second- and third-team defenders played pretty well, including interceptions by backup inside linebacker John Timu and outside linebacker Sam Acho, who did not start but could get some snaps with the ones before long.
The Bears' starters allowed the Dolphins to march 85 yards on 14 plays with the game's initial possession. The only time the visitors' attack slowed was the result of their own penalties. But even a pair of holding calls against Miami couldn't help the Bears keep the Dolphins out of the end zone.
"I didn't think (the tackling) was real bad," Fox said. "I've seen way worse. We're not a well-oiled machine by any stretch, but it's the first preseason game."
As for the offense, Fox and offensive coordinator Adam Gase have vowed to have a more substantial running attack than last year's 5-11 team.
Because the coaching staff is well aware of what it has in the versatile and durable Forte, it will take a long look in the preseason at his backups.
The depth behind do-it-all Forte is better this year than at any time in his previous seven seasons.
NFL veterans Rodgers and Daniel Thomas are in the mix with 2014 fourth-round pick Ka'Deem Carey and this year's fourth-round pick Jeremy Langford.
And Senorise Perry, undrafted a year ago, wound up as the Bears' leading tackler on special teams. He returned the second-half kickoff 42 yards against the Dolphins and added the final touchdown on a 54-yard scamper. He finished with 10 carries for 89 yards.
Coaches will be looking for the same type of versatility that Forte has demonstrated when they determine who his backups will be this year.
“We're going to have a mix of power and finesse run game," running backs coach Stan Drayton said earlier in the week. "They have to do both.”
Rodgers finished his night with 33 yards on 7 carries, a 4.7-yard average. Langford totaled just 1 yard on his 4 carries, twice being dropped for 3-yard losses. But he did catch 2 passes for 16 yards.
Carey, who followed Langford in the rotation, picked up 21 yards after a nifty move in the backfield created running room down to the Dolphins' 11-yard line.
Near the end of the third quarter, Carey scored the Bears' first touchdown. On fourth-and-1 foot, Carey started up the middle, saw no running room and bounced it outside where he coasted into the end zone.
Carey had 7 carries for 34 yards (4.9-yard average) in the third quarter.