Good and bad from Chicago Bears' preseason opener
While there was very little to be encouraged about from the Bears' starters in the preseason-opening 27-10 victory over the Miami Dolphins, there were some individual winners to go along with the losers.
The Bears' second preseason game is Saturday in Indianapolis against the Colts. Before that, there are two practices in Bourbonnais (Saturday and Sunday) and one at Halas Hall on Tuesday before the Bears hit the road for joint practice sessions Wednesday and Thursday with the Colts.
The winners:
Sherrick McManis is determined to be more than just a standout special-teams player, and the sixth-year cornerback from Northwestern made a statement Thursday.
He tied with starting cornerback Kyle Fuller for the team lead with 4 solo tackles and also forced and recovered a fumble early in the third quarter that helped set up Robbie Gould's second of 4 field goals.
"He's a competitive young guy," coach John Fox said of the 6-foot-1, 197-pound McManis. "He's a guy who made his name in this league as a special-teams ace - (and) so have a lot of great defensive players in our history. He (also) made a nice pass breakup on third down."
Fifth-year veteran outside linebacker Sam Acho played with the second group and had a sack just before halftime that forced the Dolphins to settle for a field goal. For whatever reason, he still was in the game early in the fourth quarter when he had the second of 3 Bears interceptions.
"This league is about proving yourself year in and year out," said Acho, who spent his first four years with the Arizona Cardinals, where he started 32 games. "I'm on a new team; nobody knows me here. I've got to go out and prove myself."
Senorise Perry, last year's team leader in special-teams tackles, returned the second-half kickoff 42 yards, but that was just a warmup. The 6-foot, 207-pound Perry iced the victory with a 54-yard run with 4:07 remaining. He had game highs of 89 rushing yards and 10 carries.
Perry faces a tough battle for a roster spot with a talented group of backups clamoring for playing time behind Matt Forte.
"If you worry about the running back competition, you won't worry about helping the team any way you can," said Perry, who was undrafted out of Louisville a year ago. "I'm going out there and trying to have a great time and do what I can to contribute to this team, not just on offense but on special teams."
Gould appears to be in midseason form. The sixth-most accurate field-goal kicker in NFL history hit all 4 of his attempts (48, 23, 21 and 27 yards) and converted his only extra-point attempt, which per the new rule is now a 33-yard kick.
The losers:
The first-team offensive line was flagged for 4 penalties while running just 12 plays.
Right tackle Jordan Mills was called for a false start on the Bears' first play of the game, and left tackle Jermon Bushrod's holding penalty late in the first quarter was offset by a defensive holding penalty on the Dolphins.
Jay Cutler's 4-yard pass to Eddie Royal was wiped out by an illegal formation penalty, and center Will Montgomery's false start pushed Gould's first field-goal attempt back 5 yards to the 48, but his kick was good.
"We looked very sloppy, particularly early," Fox said. "A lot of penalties and things. We still have a whole lot to work on."
Outside linebacker Pernell McPhee, who is being counted on to be a pivotal player in the 3-4, lost contain and allowed Dolphins running back Lamar Miller to run for 27 yards. That was the big play on the game-opening TD drive.
"We misplayed our linebacker alignment," Fox said.
Cornerback Al Louis-Jean didn't turn 21 until halfway through the 2014 season, but he showed potential as an undrafted rookie and possesses the size (6-1, 197) that teams covet. But he didn't help himself Thursday.
On back-to-back plays, the Boston College product was flagged for holding and then permitted a 34-yard completion from McLeod Bethel-Thompson to Matt Hazel.
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