The Bears went to Cincinnati on Saturday night, put the ball inside the Bengals’ 10-yard line, and walked off with three field goals and nothing else. Cincinnati won 27-9 at Paycor Stadium, handing Ben Johnson the first preseason loss of his time in Chicago.
Johnson sent his starters out for a series, which was not the original plan. He said afterward the first team hadn’t gotten enough work during the week. “We felt like we needed this work,” Johnson said. The offense opened with an eight-play drive that stalled and turned into a 45-yard Cairo Santos field goal. That was the last time anyone saw the first unit.
The rest of the night got progressively worse. Chicago committed 11 penalties for 81 yards after getting flagged twice against Cleveland. They converted 2 of 14 third downs, a 14.3 percent rate that will not survive contact with a real Sunday. Total offense fell to 322 yards after 430 the week before.
The numbers tell an ugly story
Caleb Williams went 2 of 5 for 28 yards on his one series. Case Keenum took over with Tyson Bagent nursing a hamstring and finished 9 of 17 for 119 yards before halftime. Miller Moss handled the second half and went 13 of 21 for 103. Chicago’s three quarterbacks combined to complete 55.8 percent of their throws, and some of that was on the receivers, who put a few catchable balls on the turf.
Maurice Alexander led the group with five catches for 60 yards. Jahdae Walker had the longest play from scrimmage, a 36-yard grab from Keenum on his only target. JP Richardson caught five for 48. Rookie tight end Sam Roush added two for 30. Roschon Johnson carried 12 times for 42 yards and converted a fourth-and-inches from the Bears’ own 15 late in the second quarter, which went nowhere three plays later.
Santos hit three field goals and missed from 53 in the second half, wide right. That is a miss in each of his first two preseason games.
The defense had a case
The run defense was the one clean thing on the field. Cincinnati managed 64 yards on 20 carries, a 3.2-yard average. The pass defense is where the score came from. Josh Johnson and Sean Clifford combined for 282 yards and three touchdowns against Chicago’s backups.
Dontae Manning finished with five tackles and three passes defended, but he also got beaten for two of those scores, a 17-yarder to Colbie Young and a 20-yarder to Noah Thomas. Safety Skyler Thomas gave up the third, a six-yard throw to Tanner Hudson, then picked off Clifford at midfield for the game’s only takeaway.
Rookie linebacker Wayne Matthews III tied Ruben Hyppolite II for the team lead with seven tackles. Jordan van den Berg had three and spent the night working. The sixth-round pick out of Georgia Tech has a motor that shows up on tape whether the box score records it or not. Dayo Odeyingbo, Neville Gallimore, and Jeremiah Martin each landed a quarterback hit. Nobody got a sack.
Johnson said the Bears came out of it with one injury, reserve linebacker Nephi Sewell. Chicago closes the preseason at Tennessee.
