CHICAGO — For three weeks, Chicago Bears nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon couldn’t practice. His injury, described only as “tightness,” came early in camp. He finally returned during the week and was everywhere on the field in Saturday’s 27-3 preseason win over the Cincinnati Bengals .
The time away frustrated Gordon, who has Pro Bowl potential — as long as he can stay healthy. Advertisement “Definitely annoying. I hate not being able to play, not being with my guys,” he said after the game.
“That makes me angry. But you can’t control everything. I just have to have a good attitude, be supportive around my teammates, and when I’m back out there, just putting my full effort out there.
I’m happy to be here.” The player known as “Spider-Man” got to do his trademark celebration several times as part of an impressive defensive performance. Once the offense got rolling in the second quarter, the Bears could feel good about another all-around effort.
Kyler-Man on the blitz 🕷️ 📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/yw1YAlOn1F — Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) August 17, 2024 “It was a good day, good learning experience for, really, everybody,” coach Matt Eberflus said.
“I thought that in spots we were really good in terms of complementary football. Defense got three turnovers. We scored three times off of those, touchdown and two field goals, and I thought that was really good complementary football.
” GO DEEPER Jahns: Caleb Williams' magic act proves the Bears QB is getting better every day Here are the risers and fallers from Saturday’s preseason game, 10 days before the deadline to trim the roster to 53 players. Risers We’ve seen it often in training camp. He did it at USC.
Williams’ ability to not only avoid the pass rush but make an accurate throw on the run is uncanny, and we saw it a few times Saturday — the 45-yard pass to Rome Odunze , the almost-touchdown pass to Odunze, and the Williams’ touchdown run. “I’ve seen him do that a few times in practice,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “Obviously very talented throwing on the move.
” Those windows get tighter against starting NFL defenses, but certain things are difficult to guard against no matter what. That's just beautiful 🥹 📺: FOX pic.twitter.
com/JOQoHwRRC5 — Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) August 17, 2024 Bagent has quietly had a really good summer. He was on fire Saturday, completing 7 of 8 passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns. He has conviction in his throws and is accurate.
The Bears should feel good about their No. 2 quarterback. “He’s a really good rhythm passer,” Eberflus said.
“The seam ball, he had to have a little touch there to place it in the right spot. He’s got all the angles, all the speeds that you need. He’s a talent.
” Advertisement Gordon’s four tackles included a sack, a tackle for loss, an open-field tackle for three yards and a stuff for one yard on third-and-2. The sack, though, is what energized Soldier Field. “That changes the whole game,” he said.
“Puts a little pressure on him, getting hit, you don’t want to get hit no more so you start looking around and being more aware of that. Any time you get a chance to disrupt the QB and his play, it’s big for the defense.” GO DEEPER Can Caleb Williams be the next Joe Burrow? That's the Chicago hope With Hall of Fame Game hero Collin Johnson still sidelined and Velus Jones Jr.
’s reps coming at running back, there was an opportunity for Pettis, and he took advantage with two touchdown catches. He also had a 24-yard catch over the middle. “I know Dante wished he would’ve had that (punt) return back, but he certainly did a nice job of making up for it,” Eberflus said.
“He had a couple nice routes and a couple nice touchdowns and they connected really well.” That's a DIME from Bagent 😯 📺: #CINvsCHI on @NFLNetwork 📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.
com/MH9PRbtnSz — NFL (@NFL) August 17, 2024 Odunze’s 16-yard run on an end-around woke the Bears offense from its slumber. Then he had the 45-yard catch down the left sideline from Williams, adjusting his route in the “scramble drill.” “I had a corner (route) there,” Odunze said.
“I should have ended up taking it high over the defender, he was playing flat-footed. I tried to get underneath just to create a passing lane for Caleb but wasn’t able to do it in the first window. So scrambled a little bit — Caleb did his magic back there and placed the ball exactly where it needed to be.
And I was there to make the catch.” The Bears took the ball away three times, starting with linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga ’s interception. Josh Blackwell ’s hit forced the errant pass.
Then cornerback Terell Smith grabbed a sideline interception, which he returned 19 yards — linebacker Micah Baskerville got an assist with his QB hit. Then linebacker Daniel Hardy , who has had a strong summer, forced a fumble, which undrafted rookie defensive tackle Keith Randolph Jr. recovered.
Can we get an Amen?! 🙌 📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/fI60Acfobt — Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) August 17, 2024 Fallers Williams’ debut at Soldier Field began with three consecutive three-and-outs.
The Bears gained only 16 yards on those possessions, which included an intentional-grounding penalty. As they went through those early struggles, Eberflus was impressed with how Williams handled it. “It’s not always going to be rosy,” he said.
“You aren’t going to make all your completions and make these big chunk plays to start out. So I saw operation that was good before the snap, in and out of the huddle; really good communicating; cadence was good. I thought his flow of the game was really nice.
“I thought his disposition, when he had a little adversity on the sideline, was excellent. Him working with the players, body demeanor never changed. He was always there working through the next one.
” GO DEEPER How 'reading tea leaves' and some luck put Bears offense on the brink of something special It’s still unclear who will get the first crack at returning punts in three weeks when the Tennessee Titans come to town. Blackwell was up first and he had a 7-yard return. He chose to let the next punt drop, and it was a 56-yarder for Cincinnati.
He might’ve had an opportunity to pick it up sooner to gain a few yards. Pettis lost 3 yards on his punt return. We’ll see if the Bears use Thursday’s game in Kansas City to continue evaluating that competition.
Last August, they signed Trent Taylor on Aug. 30 to handle punt-return duties. Advertisement Now, Williams did say that the sack was on him.
He stayed in the pocket too long, and that’s probably true, but Davis losing this rep to Kris Jenkins Jr. , listed as third string on the Bengals’ depth chart, isn’t a great look for someone who’s received as much scrutiny as he has. #Bengals rookie Kris Jenkins with the spin move and sack🏈 pic.
twitter.com/46aL1BJy4d — James Rapien (@JamesRapien) August 17, 2024 This isn’t any indictment of how Carter played, but as a player on the bubble, you never want to come in with the third-string group. Carter can play either guard spot and left tackle and has experience, and I would’ve liked to see him get some reps at left tackle to compete with Larry Borom , but it seems that both Matt Pryor and Bill Murray are ahead of the 2022 seventh-rounder.
Murray did leave the game — it looked like the concussion spotter had the official remove him. Carter would certainly have practice-squad value if he doesn’t make the 53. Eberflus wasn’t thrilled with the Bears defense on third down, as the Begnals went 7-for-15 on third down, including 4-for-8 in the first half.
Three of those third downs were converted in the first quarter against several Bears starters on defense. GO DEEPER Why the Bears are excited about WRs coach Chris Beatty: 'He makes people better' Maybe this is just an aesthetic thing, but the Bears never want the playing surface to be a conversation topic — unless it’s in a positive light. From photos taken at field level before the game, it did not appear to be in good shape.
Eberflus explained the reasoning for that and said it should be ready to go for Sept. 8. “Our guys do a great job putting the turf down,” he said.
“It was put down a little later because of the concerts and hadn’t been down that long. In terms of its safety, it was fine, it was good. The NFL obviously tests that and it was up to their standards.
Once it ends up being in there for a couple more weeks before the first game, it’ll look beautiful.” Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox. document.
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forEach((el) => { el.setAttribute("style", "pointer-events: none;");}) Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox. (Top photo of Kyler Gordon: David Banks / USA Today).
