Chicago Bears: 13 Winners and Losers from Preseason Week 2

Calm down, Bears fans, and please understand that the preseason is not about who wins and who loses the game. But it is about which player wins and loses each week.

Yes, the Bears got clobbered by the Giants. So what? Last year, the Bears went winless during the preseason and yet went on to win 11 games during the regular season.

During the Bears' Super Bowl championship season of 1985, the team went 1-3 during the preseason.

Anyway, game results may not matter, but individual performances do. That is, assuming you are a player on the bubble.

The players who skipped the game—Lance Briggs, Anthony Adams, Zack Bowman, Corey Wootton—all will make the final roster if healthy. But there were others for whom this game meant a lot.

Meanwhile, some players helped themselves and some were hurt by their performance on Monday. Overall, the Bears may have lost the game, but the offensive line did well, and that's a win for Chicago.

Let's take a look at some other winners (and losers) from Monday night's game.

Winner: The Offensive Line

As a unit, the first-string O-line performed decently on Monday night. Jay Cutler was sacked only once, and that was more of a coverage sack and in fairness, he probably should have thrown the ball away.

J'Marcus Webb is still a project at left tackle, but even he was much better on Monday than last Sunday when he gave up two sacks to Shawne Merriman. 

Webb made up for that dismal showing with a strong performance against Jason Pierre-Paul on Monday, despite one false-start penalty.  The improvement that we were told to expect seemed right on target.

Lance Louis, one of the players in danger of possibly being cut, played a lot better as well.

So what did you think of the line, Lovie Smith?

“I think our offensive line as a whole put in a solid performance,” he said. “I definitely saw improvement from last week. Our protection got better.”

Meanwhile, history says that when the Bears give up only one sack, they win and score a lot of points. In 2010, the Bears gave up multiple sacks in all but three games and in those three games they averaged around 30 points and went 3-0.

Loser: Special Teams

When was the last time that one could point the finger of blame at Dave Toub's unit? But, as shocking as it may be, they did not play well at all on Monday night.

The Bears did want to take a look at some new faces on special teams, and that did not work out very well. The most obviously bad play occurred when Spencer Lanning's punt was blocked in the second quarter.

They also allowed a 73-yard return to Devin Thomas, with D.J. Moore being one of the culprits as he was taken out of the play and clearing a huge hole for the Giants.

Meanwhile, the Bears' return game couldn't do much. Johnny Knox averaged just 7.5 yards on two punt returns, though he did return a kick 45 yards.

The unit was missing a couple of key players, but there were enough core players out there for this to be considered a rough night.  

Winner: Jay Cutler

No, he didn't get the team into the end zone, but overall Cutler had a decent first half.

His footwork showed marked improvement, and his passes had a lot of zip. And unlike the last time they played in the Meadowlands, Cutler walked away without injury. He even had time to throw.

Cutler finished 12-of-21 passing for 171 yards and no interceptions. He was better than Eli Manning, though backup David Carr was the best of all.

But he got out alive and would have had an even better completion percentage and at least one touchdown except for dropped passes.

Loser: Devin Hester

Placing the 'loser' tag on Hester may be a little harsh. After all, he did catch three balls, one of them a 37-yarder.

But he slipped on one play in the red zone and he dropped a pass on the goal line that should've been caught. Plus, even on that big play, he immediately went out of bounds instead of going upfield.

Hester wasn't involved in the return game, through no fault of his own.

All in all, it was a lackluster effort from a guy the Bears are counting on to contribute in the passing game this season.

Winner: Adam Podlesh

Lovie Smith ended any speculation about who the punter will be on this team when he said that Podlesh is the guy. That makes him a winner.

While that was certainly no surprise, Spencer Lanning had been very impressive in camp and appears to have an NFL leg and should latch on with some team.

Lanning had a punt blocked, while Podlesh was better against the Giants than he was versus the Bills. He averaged 43 yards a punt.

Podlesh was a Pro Bowl alternate in 2010 with the Jags.

Loser: The Bears Defense

Lousy tackling, poor coverage and no turnovers meant that the Bears defensive unit was not good on Monday. They certainly missed Lance Briggs in the run game. but there were just too many gaffes for that to be the reason.

Where was the pass rush? The Bears D had zero sacks and no QB hits. Backup Giants QB David Carr picked apart the secondary to the tune of a 138.1 passer rating and two touchdowns.

Meanwhile, the run defense was abysmal. They gave up an average of 8.1 yards per carry and a total of 218 yards on the night.

Da'Rel Scott had a 97-yard burst for a TD in the fourth quarter, while the secondary had no interceptions.

Lovie even took a shot at his defense in his postgame remarks.

“Injury-wise, we don’t have any,” Smith said. “Of course, you’ve got to tackle a little bit better before you start talking injuries.”

It speaks volumes when the top five tacklers are all defensive backs. Brandon Jacobs put a move on Major Wright that almost broke Wright's ankle.

All in all, the defense allowed a total of 414 yards and 25 first downs.

Winner: Brian Iwuh

Iwuh played well in a relative limited opportunity. He looked good last year, too, filling in for Lance Briggs, so this should not be a surprise.

The weak-side linebacker had a solid game against the Giants' first-team offense.

Maybe that lack of depth at LB isn't so bad after all.  Iwuh finished with three tackles, two of them of the solo variety, and one went for a loss.

Loser: Roy Williams / Dropped Passes

Free agent acquisition Roy Williams is expected to be the No. 1 wideout on this team, but I just can't see why. He's had only one good season in the NFL, and even though that was with Mike Martz, it was a fairly long time ago.

Williams showed up to camp a bit out of shape and seems to play much smaller than his size would indicate. He showed 'alligator arms' on several balls, and if he doesn't turn it on soon, it will be difficult for him to build a rapport with Cutler.

Maybe it's smart that Williams is content with being on cruise control and staying healthy, but he'd better show much more effort when the final bell rings.

Williams did not catch a pass out of the three that were thrown his way.

Meanwhile, receivers dropped four catchable balls in the first half.

Winner: J.T. Thomas

Again, it was a small sample size but I recall Thomas contributing when he did get a chance on Monday night. This is another good sign for the Bears linebacking corps.

He won't be a starter, but for a rookie to hold up so well means that what the Bears see in him is valid.

Thomas will make the team, but it's still good to see a performance like that, especially on a night when the defense played so poorly.

Thomas had two tackles, both of them solo.

Loser: Red Zone Offense

Once again, the Bears failed in the red zone. This has been a problem for Cutler going back to his days in Denver but it isn't fair to blame him for what happened against the Giants.

The Bears failed on both of their red zone opportunities in the first half. They were stopped on fourth down inside the 1-yard line and Devin Hester slipped, then dropped a pass on the goal line.

Caleb Hanie threw a pick on 4th-and-2. In fact, it took a Giants penalty for the Bears to finally score a TD as Kahlil Bell got in.

It was an all-too-familiar reminder of what happened last season. This has to change.

Winner: Tim Jennings

Jennings filled in admirably for the concussed Zack Bowman. On a night when coverage was a negative, Jennings continues to make plays.

He is undersized, but he hits hard and shows absolutely no fear. Jennings made five tackles, three of them solo.  While that means that the Giants runners got into the Bears secondary a lot, at least someone stepped up to stop them.

Loser: Dom DeCicco

DeCicco had been impressive in camp but this was his first chance to try and make the team as an undrafted free agent in a game. He came up short.

Not to pick on the guy, but he missed tackles, and his missed block on the Giants' Greg Jones led to the blocked punt.

DeCicco will need to step it up quickly for him to have any shot at making the final roster after that performance.

Loser: New NFL Rule

The new rule that forces every touchdown to be reviewed was maddening. I thought that the normally optimistic Jon Gruden was going on the field to challenge the refs at one point during the broadcast.

The replays took far too long and contributed even more to what was already a boring game for Bears fans.

It's a stupid rule but I guess it's here to stay.