The Bears head to Indianapolis on Saturday to face in Colts in their second preseason game. This preseason game will be fun to watch, as both teams were in joint practices this week. This means that each team is somewhat familiar with each other entering the game. Coming off these practices, there are important things to note heading into Bears @ Colts.
Coach Matt Eberflus told reporters Thursday night that Justin Fields and other starters will not be playing on Saturday against the Colts. Select starters are being sat Saturday because Eberflus and the coaching staff saw what they needed from the starters during joint practices. While it is slightly disappointing that Fields and other starters will not play this week it is fine as long as starters play some next week.
The Colts have yet to say if their starters will play on Saturday night. However, there is a high likelihood they will as their young quarterback Anthony Richardson needs to see the field as much as possible,
Yet again, the Bears have a long list of injuries entering this preseason game.
An additional injury the Bears suffered on Thursday was to center Cody Whitehair. Whitehair left the field with what is being reported as a hand injury, according to @BearsNationCHI. Whitehair sustaining a hand injury will affect his grip on the ball. This is a problem, as Whitehair has already had issues with bad snaps. This hand injury might force Whitehair to miss the rest of the preseason. Potentially missing the rest of the preseason hurts an offensive line that just returned to full strength when guard Nate Davis returned to practice this week.
Similar to last week, the Bears have a few starters with injuries. While it would be nice to see these starters off the injury report, it is not a huge deal this week since starters are not playing. There will not be too much concern as long as a few of these starters are healthy for the final preseason game.
Entering this game, the Colts have many more injuries than the Bears. Some of their injuries have players out for the season, while others are short-term. It will be interesting to see how cohesive the Colts are will all their injuries.
With starters not playing, that leaves the door for the Bears’ backup pass rush to make another statement. After the unit collected eight sacks against the Titans, they will need a good follow-up performance. Even if the performance does not consist of another eight sacks, as long as the rush creates problems, it will be a win.
Players to watch include Trevis Gipson and Terell Lewis. Both these edge rushers played well last week, gaining sacks, which only fueled the argument about who the Bears will keep. It will be interesting to see which player can keep up the success of the week.
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