Preseason Week 1: Bears "lose" to Bengals 30-27

[Adipost]

Depth at CB is very concerning. Also, absolutely no edge pressure besides Floyd.

[BlueAndOrangeDog]

Depth at CB is very concerning. Also, absolutely no edge pressure besides Floyd.

I agree with the lack of Edge... there is no excuse for ignoring the second most important position on the team in both the draft and FA last year, then follow it up this year with just a few touch-ups at the position.

But I disagree with the lack of depth at CB. The problem is the lack of depth at S. Particularly when you consider that Fangio uses a 3rd S... not a 4th CB... when going to a dime. This means the 4th CB will not be playing defense unless there are injuries. And the Bears 4th (Cooper) while not very popular, has considerable starting experience and is still a notch above most teams 4th CB. Crevon LeBlanc at 5 also has some starting experience, and isn't bad for a 5, and is also the backup slot CB over Cooper. Best yet, all of these guys have experience in the system. They are considerably better than the depth we have had at the position for the last several years.

Jonathan Banks, Jacoby Glenn, Alan Ball, Al Louis Jean, all had to be relied on in games, and are all considerably worse than the depth at CB I just mentioned.

At Safety, the depth was so bad last year they had to pull Chris Prosinki off the scrap heap, and stick him in the game immediately for Fangio's 3S sets in dime and heavy nickle. They lost a backup in Quentin Demps and haven't replaced him with anyone. DHC is the 3rd safety right now meaning he'll be the one getting tested in games regularly, but he has some experience there. After that is Hall and Oates, er... I mean... Hall and Bush, and they have had 3 years to show us they don't belong on NFL rosters. One injury at the S position and they will be pulling Prosinski back off of the Subaru showroom floor.

[Mikefive]

We'll have to see about edge. It's even more concerning when you consider that Floyd has missed several games each year.

I don't know that S is going to be that bad this year. Bush, DHC and Hall have all been better this preseason than we've ever seen from them in the past. Bush in particular.

[UOK]

I think Fitts, should he stay healthy, will be a quietly nifty tool by the end of the year. Guy has the athleticism and speed to get into the backfield, but once he's there he freezes up, takes a bad angle, etc. I think that stuff is easily fixed once he calms down and gets more and more game reps at full speed. Gotta stay healthy though.

[crueltyabc]

I agree with everyone's concerns about our backup OL. Nobody has looked like they can even hang with the other teams' 1s. If we have an injury on the OL the Bears will be protecting the replacement with scheme for sure. On the other hand, the entire DT group looks good right now. That's going to be a really strong rotation with the opposing OL getting no easy reps.

It's hard to judge the DBs when they haven't watched tape and have no pass rush in front of them, but I can't help but think that Cooper still sucks.