Bears beat Browns 26-23; now it's time for final roster cuts

According to Bears general manager Jerry Angelo, between three to five roster spots were up for grabs in Thursday night's preseason finale against the Cleveland Browns.

Friday and Saturday, when the roster is slashed from 75 to 53, players will find out who performed well enough to survive in the 26-23 victory, which ended the Bears' preseason at 3-1.

For the second straight game, rookie wide receiver Johnny Knox, a fifth-rounder from Abilene Christian, had the Bears' biggest play from scrimmage. And for the second straight week it was a 43-yard connection with backup quarterback Caleb Hanie.

Knox caught the ball in a deep seam and then executed a Denis Savard-style "spin-o-rama" to escape a tackle and add 15 yards to the play.

Knox came into the game with 65 receiving yards, second best on the team, on just 3 catches; he added a 19-yard reception in the fourth quarter. He also had 4 kickoff returns for 117 yards, including a 50-yarder, along with a 38-yard punt return.

But that did little to help coaches reach the decisions that have to be made by Saturday about the wide receiver position.

Veteran Rashied Davis did not play because of a shoulder stinger suffered Sunday night at Denver, but he is expected to make the final 53 because of experience and special-teams contributions.

Either Devin Aromashodu or Brandon Rideau could be the loser in the numbers game, but neither caught a pass in the first half.

Aromashodu, considered to have the edge entering the game, had 2 passes thrown to him but seemed to misjudge the second, late in the first half, which appeared catchable.

"I just know I did everything I could," Aromashodu said. "So now it's in the hands of the people who make the decisions."

Rideau made his biggest play of the preseason with 5:07 left in the third quarter when he got inside position on a quick slant and scored an 18-yard TD on a toss from No. 3 quarterback Brett Basanez.

Rideau wasn't sure that was enough to assure a spot on the final roster.

"Honestly, I can't even call that. I know that it felt to do it, but I don't know if it was enough," he said. "You can't do much more than get into the end zone."

Tight end Michael Gaines, who had just 1 catch in the first three games and is on the bubble, helped his cause with a 25-yard TD catch early in the third quarter that tied the game at 13-13; he also had a 9-yard grab.

Defensively, Marcus Harrison got his most extended playing time of the preseason and made it count with a team-best 5 first-half tackles and a sack late in the half that stopped a scoring threat.

Harrison got off to a slow start when he reported to training camp 15 pounds overweight and was not allowed to practice for a week until he lost the excess pounds. Harrison also had a tackle for negative yardage and a quarterback hit.

Nose tackle Matt Toeaina, a bubble player who stayed in through the third quarter, also had a sack to help his cause.

Running back Kevin Jones, who had an unimpressive first three preseason games, averaging just 3.1 yards per attempt, carried on the Bears' first six plays from scrimmage, picking up 19 yards and setting up Robbie Gould's 43-yard field goal.

The Bears started with great field position after Zack Bowman made a diving grab to pick off Brett Ratliff on the first play from scrimmage. It the first play of the preseason for Bowman, who sat out the first three games with a strained hamstring.

On the next possession, Jones suffered an ankle injury after picking up 6 yards. He did not return.

Bowman was the hero of the day on defense - at least among his teammates. Coach Lovie Smith told his veteran starters that they would play only one series, so when Bowman picked off the Ratliff pass, the defensive starters were allowed to take the rest of the night off.

"They were going to get one series, no matter how it ended," said Smith, who wasn't thrilled with the performance of the replacements. "I was looking for some of the players trying to make the team to step up and show that they belonged.

"We didn't get a whole lot done, aside from the interception."

Bowman stayed in until some minor tightness in his hamstring ended his night late in the first quarter, and he played well. But the same could not be said for veteran cornerback Rod Hood, who was signed Tuesday. Hood was beaten repeatedly in coverage.

Gould had field goals of 43, 40, 47 and 39 yards and finished the preseason 9-for-9.

<p class="factboxheadblack">Lindsey Willhite's game tracker</p> <p class="News">Bears 26, Browns 23</p> <p class="News"><b>Cutler quickie:</b> Jay Cutler played the first series of the Bears' final exhibition, handed off six times to Kevin Jones, and then wore his orange cap on the sidelines the rest of the night.</p> <p class="News"><b>Zackary attack:</b> In his first snap of the preseason, cornerback Zackary Bowman's hamstring looked fine as he broke quickly to intercept Brett Ratliff's pass on the game's first play from scrimmage.</p> <p class="News"><b>Take it easy:</b> The first-string defense played one snap (Bowman's pick). RB Matt Forte, WR Devin Hester and C Olin Kreutz sat this one out, while LT Orlando Pace left after four snaps.</p> <p class="News"><b>Injury watch:</b> Backup RB Kevin Jones appeared to be in anguish after hurting his left ankle in the first quarter. He did not return.</p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=318899">Bowman gets right to work<span class="date"> [9/3/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=318910">Wolfe confident he will be in the mix at running back<span class="date"> [9/3/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>