Giants vs. Bears: 5 Things to Take Away from Friday Night's Preseason Game

Friday night was the first official home game for the Super Bowl champion New York Giants in 2012.

Granted, they played the week before against the New York Jets in the same building, but even so, this was a 100-percent Giants crowd on hand at MetLife Stadium.

The Chicago Bears ended up getting the victory over the Giants 20-17, which drops the G-Men to 1-2 in the preseason.

What did we take away from the third preseason game from Big Blue?

Here are five important things that we learned from Friday night's game between the Giants and Bears.

David Wilson Looked Really Good

With Ahmad Bradshaw out with the hand injury, rookie David Wilson got his chance to start on the Giants offense.

The first-round pick of 2012 did not disappoint at all.

Wilson had five carries for 49 yards and two catches for 26 yards, giving him 75 all-purpose yards, which are pretty good numbers for his first-ever start in the NFL.

Wilson showed a combination of power, speed and athleticism against the Bears and really looked like he could be a playmaker for the Giants.

I think it's safe to say Wilson will not only be winning the No. 2 running back spot, but I wouldn't be surprised if he made a few starts this season for the Giants.

Ramses Barden FINALLY Steps Up

If anyone needed to have a big game on the Giants offense, it was wide receiver Ramses Barden.

For most of the preseason, Barden was virtually a non-factor and slipping on the wide receiver depth chart.

But with Hakeem Nicks not ready to go yet, Barden got a chance to show what he could do against the Bears secondary.

On Friday, Barden had three catches for 46 yards and scored an 11-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning, which put the Giants up 10-7 in the second quarter.

Barden could have had a second touchdown, but pass interference was called in the end zone on Charles Tillman, putting the ball on the one—and Andre Brown punched it in on the next play.

Either way, Barden played like the receiver the Giants had been expecting for three years now. More importantly, he was a red-zone threat that Manning could rely on.

Barden may have seriously taken a big step in the right direction for the Giants offense on Friday night.

Prince Amukamara's Ankle Sprain Depletes Secondary Early

Prince Amukamara went down on the turf at MetLife Stadium after making a tackle on Brandon Marshall, and fans had serious concern, especially when he was carted off the field.

Usually when player gets carted off, the news is never good and sometimes, is a season-ender.

That wasn't the case, but in the short term, it wasn't great, as it was announced that Amukamara suffered a high-ankle sprain on the play.

Amukamara was supposed to take over opposite Corey Webster while Terrell Thomas recovers from a knee injury, but now that Thomas and Amukamara are both out, it has once again depleted the secondary.

This will force Michael Coe and rookie Jayron Hosley to step up and play more in crucial plays for the Giants secondary.

Hopefully for the Giants, Amukamara recovers quickly from this injury and gets back on the field soon.

Eli Manning Looked Absolutely Dominant

In the previous week against the Jets, Eli Manning looked shaky.

But against a much better football team in the Bears, the Super Bowl MVP looked much better and almost looked like in midseason form.

Against the Bears, Manning went 17-for-21 for 148 yards and threw one touchdown with no interceptions.

Two of the four incompletions were dropped passes by his receivers, but other than that, Manning looked crisp with his deliveries and was sharp.

His touchdown pass to Ramses Barden in the second quarter was a great use of the red-zone offense, and hopefully,the Giants will see a lot more of that during 2012.

Manning looked like an elite quarterback who owned the field Friday night and the Bears couldn't do anything to stop him.

The Giants Are Primed to Be Elite in 2012

The Bears won the game. Well, their second-half team won the game.

Because in the first half, the Giants flat-out dominated and again, looked like the defending champions on the field.

The offense was sharp in both the run and pass game. Aside from Eli Manning, David Wilson and Ramses Barden looking good, rookie Rueben Randle also looked good on offense for the Giants.

On defense, the Giants made Matt Forte look down-right awful, holding him to four yards in the first half. In the second half, Forte had 35 yards on two plays against the Giants second team defense.

Jay Cutler didn't look good against the Giants defense. He didn't get sacked, but he wasn't making spectacular plays either, as he was 9-for-21 with 96 yards, but did throw a touchdown to Brandon Marshall.

Da'Rel Scott made a great play on special teams blocking a punt by Ryan Quigley, which was recovered on the six-yard line by Greg Jones. That play set up a running touchdown by Andre Brown, which put the Giants up 17-7 at halftime.

For the third week in a row, the Giants first-team unit looked like the better team on the field and looked elite on the field.

Both the Jaguars and Jets might not be great teams, but the Bears are a solid team who could make a run at the playoffs in 2012, and the Giants looked like the better team on the field against them.

If the pre-season is any indication as to how the Giants are going to play on the field in 2012 during the regular season, then the G-Men are in for a good year that could end up taking them back to the playoffs.

Despite the loss, Giants fans have a lot to feel good about after Friday night's game against the Bears.

Stay tuned, Giants fans.