Takeaways from Bears preseason game against Dolphins

WAUKEGAN, Illinois – The Chicago Bears start off the preseason with a 27-10 win over the Miami Dolphins, but the first team offense and defense for the Bears still have a lot of work to do.

First team defense: Let’s just say the start of the Vic Fangio defense reminded me a lot of how the Mel Tucker defense looked a year ago, players were out of position, weren’t discipline, and didn’t bring any pressure on the opposing quarterback. The best thing the first team defense did was when Jared Allen read the running back screen and deflected the screen pass. Other than that the defense looked one step behind Miami’s offense. Whenever you allow the opponent to score a touchdown on the opening drive, that’s never a good sign for a defense that struggled mightily last season. I thought that safety, Brock Vereen struggled against the Dolphins. He got run over by the sideline and took the wrong angle in man to man coverage, which allowed the Dolphins to score a touchdown. I believe that the safety position is up for grabs and will be something to watch for in the next preseason game.

First team offense: The Bears wouldn’t be the Bears if they didn’t start off the preseason on offense with a false start. I saw some good and some bad from the offense. The bad being that the offense caused a number of penalties and lacked communication. The penalty that hurt the Bears the most was when the offense was going to attempt to go for it on fourth down and then a false start was called, forcing the Bears to go for a field goal. Then there was miscommunication with Eddie Royal and Jay Cutler. Royal ran a beautiful corner route and broke it flat, while Cutler thought he would break it at more of an angle. These are things that will be corrected as time goes by, so I am not too concerned. The good was that Cutler looked in command of the offense and Jacquizz Rodgers looked effective in the running game. Cutler got his teammates in and out of the huddle and there was time for him to read the defense. Rodgers followed his blocks and broke off some nice runs against the Miami Defense.

What to look for: The Bears will begin getting ready for their next preseason opponent, the Indianapolis Colts on August 22^nd at Lucas Oil Stadium. The two teams will have a two day joint practice on August 19-20^th. This will be a good learning curve for the Bears as they go against one of the best teams in the AFC.