Chicago Bears: What to Watch for in 1st Preseason Game
This Thursday will mark exactly two weeks since the Chicago Bears held their first training camp practice of the year, and Thursday will also be the team's first preseason game of the year.
The Miami Dolphins will make their way up to Chicago this week to take on the Bears at Soldier Field on August 13, and kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. local time.
Starters rarely play more than a quarter in the first preseason game, and Bears head coach John Fox confirmed on the Waddle and Silvy Show on ESPN 1000 on Friday that the starters will play "around a quarter" on Thursday night, according to Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com.
Even though starters like quarterback Jay Cutler, wide receiver Alshon Jeffery and outside linebacker Pernell McPhee will play sparingly on Thursday night, many players on the roster who are looking to claim a starting spot will have an opportunity to get extended reps against the Dolphins.
Just ahead, we take a look at the five things to watch when the Bears take on the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night.
Who Will Line Up as Starters at Inside Linebacker?
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The Bears have four inside linebackers on their roster capable of starting this season in Shea McClellin, Jon Bostic, Christian Jones and Mason Foster, and on Thursday night, fans will get the opportunity to watch all four in action against the Dolphins.
The Bears held a practice/scrimmage at Soldier Field on Saturday afternoon, and according to Bob LeGere of the Daily Herald, McClellin and Jones lined up with the first-team defense.
A first-round pick of the Bears in 2012, McClellin struggled at defensive end between 2012 and 2013 before moving to outside linebacker last season in Chicago's 4-3 defense. He improved against the run in 2014, but he struggled mightily against the pass.
Despite spending the majority of his collegiate career as a 3-4 outside linebacker, the Bears decided McClellin's best fit in defensive coordinator Vic Fangio's 3-4 scheme is at inside linebacker.
"He's done well in there," said Fangio, per Larry Mayer of ChicagoBears.com. "I know he has a history of being moved around, but one of our first discussions when we got here was where to play him. Most people wanted to play him outside, including him, but I didn't see it that way."
McClellin struggled with reading and reacting to plays last season as the team's strong-side linebacker, but Fangio thinks the young linebacker has improved in that area.
"It's going to be a growing process," Fangio said, per Mayer. "It's a position that relies a lot on experience, instincts and play recognition, and I think he's getting better and better at that."
If McClellin wants to hang onto one of the two starting inside linebacker jobs, he will have to show he has improved his instincts and play recognition.
Jones made a splash in Chicago last season as an undrafted rookie and finished the year with 69 tackles and two sacks. He played both strong- and weak-side linebacker in Chicago's 4-3 defense, but he is projected to be a starter at the "Jack" inside linebacker position. The Jack linebacker is typically the more athletic linebacker of the two starters on the inside, and he is usually the team's best pass-rushing inside linebacker.
Even though McClellin and Jones appear to be the front-runners for the two open starting spots, both Bostic and Foster could break through and earn a starting job.
The Bears drafted Bostic in the second round of the 2013 draft, but he has struggled with injuries and inconsistent play in his first two years in the league. He missed part of this offseason with a back injury, but he has played well at times in training camp, according to Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Chicago signed Foster to a one-year, $825,000 deal after he spent the previous four seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the veteran linebacker has a chance to steal one of the starting inside linebacker jobs because of his experience and ability against the run.
Even if McClellin and Jones begin the game on Thursday night as the team's two starting inside linebackers, do not be surprised to see both Bostic and Foster get an opportunity to work with the first-team defense as Chicago tries to sort out the position.
Competition for No. 2 Running Back
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The Bears added veterans Jacquizz Rodgers and Daniel Thomas in free agency and drafted Jeremy Langford in the fourth round of this year's draft to compete with Ka'Deem Carey and Senorise Perry to be the team's No. 2 running back behind Matt Forte.
Through the early portion of training camp, Bleacher Report's Dan Pompei thinks Langford and Rodgers are the front-runners to claim the backup spots behind Forte.
"In addition to Forte, the depth is excellent with Jeremy Langford and Jacquizz Rodgers both running well," tweeted Pompei. "The Bears can run at you in waves."
Rodgers is an accomplished third-down running back who excels in pass protection. According to Pro Football Focus, Rodgers finished last season with a plus-5.4 pass-blocking grade, and his 99.0 pass-blocking efficiency grade was the highest among all running backs in the league in 2014.
He has good hands and is a terrific north-south runner, but he could get pushed by Langford for the primary No. 2 job behind Forte.
According to Finley, Langford took snaps with the first-team offense on Saturday, and he has been impressive throughout training camp. Unlike Rodgers, Langford is a speed threat who is at his best when he can get to the edge and work up the field. He has good hands and possesses good footwork, but he will need to become reliable in pass protection.
Thomas and Carey both have NFL experience, but they will have to turn heads in the preseason to claim a roster spot.
Thomas spent the last four seasons with the Miami Dolphins and was used primarily as a third-down back. He has good hands and works well between the tackles, but he is not overly reliable in pass protection.
Carey was used sparingly in his rookie season last year, but he was a two-time All-American at the University of Arizona. He is a versatile running back who can run between the tackles and outside the tackles, but he is still a bit of an unknown because of how little he was used last year.
All four backs, as well as Perry, could see a lot of playing time on Thursday night against Miami. If either Rodgers or Langford struggles, Carey, Thomas and Perry have a chance to move up the depth chart with a strong performance.
Kick and Punt Returners
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The 2014 season was Chicago's first season without return man Devin Hester since he was drafted in 2006, and the Bears struggled to replace the former All-Pro in both the punt return and kick return game.
Chicago used a combination of Chris Williams, Rashad Ross and Senorise Perry at kick returner to start the season, and only Williams had marginal success. The former CFL star returned 24 kicks for 579 yards and scored one touchdown, but he often took balls out of the end zone instead of just taking a knee.
The Bears signed former Pro Bowl return man Marc Mariani in November, and the veteran returned 20 kicks for 510 yards in six games. Mariani wasn't flashy last season, but he got the job done.
As a whole, the Bears struggled on punt returns last season. Santonio Holmes, Mariani and Williams all returned punts, but the team averaged just 5.2 yards per punt return.
In Chicago's first preseason game on Thursday night, it will be interesting to see who gets the most reps at both return spots.
Mariani appears to be the favorite to land the kick return job, but he could get pushed by undrafted rookie Levi Norwood.
The former Baylor Bear averaged 20.2 yards per kick return and scored two touchdowns as a punt returner in his college career. According to NFL.com, he ran just a 4.57-second and 4.63-second 40-yard dash at his pro day, but he possesses good vision and has the ability to make tacklers miss. Norwood is a shifty runner, and he should get a handful of opportunities on Thursday night.
Just before the start of training camp, the Bears signed former Arena Football League standout A.J. Cruz to a three-year deal, according to Finley. He should get an opportunity to return both kicks and punts against the Dolphins.
While Mariani has the ability to return punts, the Bears could use veteran receiver Eddie Royal in that role this season. Royal has returned 111 punts for 1,172 yards with two touchdowns in his career, and he averaged 9.1 yards per punt return last season with the San Diego Chargers.
Royal could get a return or two in the team's first preseason game, but the coaching staff may opt to let someone like Cruz or Norwood take over the return duties in order to get a better look at him.
The kick return and punt return roles will not be filled after just one preseason game, but guys like Norwood and Cruz have a chance to earn more playing time in the preseason with a strong performance Thursday night.
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How Much Will DC Vic Fangio Show with His Front Seven?
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Fangio was hired this offseason by Chicago to help turn around the team's defense, and the veteran coordinator has already received high praise from one of his new players.
“When you see coaches that are able to produce multiple Pro Bowlers and get guys to play at a high level consistently—regardless of where they came from—that gets you excited and you say, ‘If they can do it for them, then they could do it for me,’” said veteran safety Ryan Mundy about Fangio, per Mark Potash of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Fangio was in charge of one of the league's best defenses in San Francisco between 2011 and 2014, and he is viewed as one of the league's best defensive coordinators. Fangio ran a 3-4 defense with the 49ers, but he was not afraid to show multiple looks up front with his front seven.
The veteran coach will likely not show much on Thursday night in terms of his scheme, particularly his blitz packages, but it will be interesting to see the different combinations he uses up front along the line of scrimmage.
A lot of questions surround Chicago's defensive line, and Thursday night will be Fangio's first chance to mix and match his lineup in a game situation. Ego Ferguson and Jeremiah Ratliff will likely be the starters at the two defensive end positions, and Eddie Goldman will get the nod at nose tackle, but there could be a lot of moving parts along the defensive line.
Jarvis Jenkins, Will Sutton and Cornelius Washington could all get snaps with the first-team defense at defensive end, while veteran David Carter and undrafted rookie Terry Williams could get reps at nose tackle.
At outside linebacker, Pernell McPhee, Jared Allen, Lamarr Houston, Willie Young, Sam Acho and David Bass will all get an opportunity to play against the Dolphins. McPhee is a lock to be a starter at one of the outside linebacker positions, but the other starting spot is wide-open.
Acho and Bass will get the majority of the playing time on Thursday night with the second- and third-team defense, but Allen, Houston and Young should all have an opportunity to play with either the first- or second-team defense.
There have been a lot of questions surrounding Chicago's defense under Fangio in regards to where certain players will line up this season, and some of those questions could get answered on Thursday night.
Can Backup QB Jimmy Clausen Run Chicago's New Offense?
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The Bears signed veteran quarterback Jimmy Clausen to a one-year deal last offseason to compete with Jordan Palmer to be Chicago's backup quarterback, and the former Notre Dame star won the job in training camp last summer.
He made a few appearances in relief of Cutler early in the season, but he was eventually named the team's starter against the Detroit Lions in Week 16.
Clausen completed 23 of his 39 passing attempts for 181 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, but he suffered a concussion and missed the final game of the year. The Bears re-signed him to a one-year deal this offseason, but he has struggled at times during training camp.
"All offseason, and especially now, Jimmy Clausen has been struggling," tweeted ChicagoFootball.com's Nate Atkins last week. "He just seems lax and doesn't have much on his throws."
WGN Radio's Adam Hoge echoed Atkins' sentiments.
"One player who is struggling in camp so far: Jimmy Clausen," tweeted Hoge.
Despite looking shaky at times in training camp, Clausen feels good about his standing with the team.
“I feel really comfortable,” Clausen said, according to Chris Emma of CBSChicago.com.
Clausen looked good in the short-to-intermediate passing game in his Week 16 start against Detroit, but he has struggled with his accuracy throughout his career. Chicago did not use a draft pick on a quarterback this offseason, and Clausen is the only veteran on the roster. If he struggles on Thursday night, the Bears may have to start looking for a veteran quarterback to push Clausen in the preseason.
Clausen's struggles so far in training camp could simply be the product of Chicago's defense clicking in practice, but he is going to have to show he can effectively run offensive coordinator Adam Gase's offense when given the opportunity on Thursday night.
Statistical information courtesy of NFL.com and Sports-Reference.com unless otherwise noted. Contract information courtesy of Spotrac.
Matt Eurich is a Chicago Bears featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.
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