TE Greg Olsen caught a touchdown in Bears 13-10 loss to Browns
In their final game of the preseason, the Chicago Bears travelled to Cleveland to take on the Cleveland Browns and in their usual fashion this preseason, they lost the game 13-10 in the final seconds of the contest.
The first score of the game came when Bear’s quarterback Todd Collins, earning the start in this game, tossed a 15 yard touchdown pass to tight end Greg Olsen to give the Bears a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The Browns answered the touchdown with one of their own after running back Montario Hardesty ran it into the end zone from one yard out to make it 7-7.
The Browns would go ahead by three after kicker Phil Dawson hit a 24 yard field goal in the second quarter. Bears kicker Robbie Gould would add a field goal for the Bears (from 46 yards out) to tie it up at 10 a piece heading into halftime.
Neither team scored in the third quarter and no one would score at all until the very end of the game when, after a blocked punt gave the Browns good field position. This allowed them to drive down and give Dawson a chance to kick a 36 yard field goal, which he made and which gave the Browns a 13-10 win.
The Bears started quarterback Todd Collins in this game and he didn’t have a bad first time out with the Bears. Judging by his performance, it’s very likely that the Bears will keep him on as a second string quarterback allowing for there to have to be some decisions made in regards to who will be the third string quarterback. Will it either be LeFevour or Hanie?
Some players did end up playing well in this game and may have cemented themselves a spot on the roster heading into the regular season. Some of those players that did play well include defensive end/tackle Jarron Gilbert who had been rumored to have been close to being cut did pretty well in this game as did cornerback D.J. Moore and defensive tackle Mick Williams.
There were a few guys that didn’t help themselves that much in this game and may have pushed themselves off of the roster. They include linebacker Tim Shaw (since cut by the Bears as of this writing), linebacker Kevin Malast (cut already) as well as Cornelius Brown (cut already as well). There are more but these guys stood out as not playing well in this game and it looks like this has hurt their career with the Bears.
The problems on special teams reared their ugly head once again as the Bears had another punt blocked making it their third blocked punt this preseason. The Beas have had consistently solid special teams but this preseason has showed us that there are some serious holes and those need to be taken care of before the preseason starts. If they can’t fix these issues then it’s going to be a long and difficult season.
As the Bears make their final cuts and scan the waiver wires for additional talent we still wonder exactly who well the Bears will do this coming season. There problems include personnel and play calling but go as deep as the coaching staff and within the upper management of the team.
This year will tell us a lot about the Bears and their moves and motives. Let’s just hope that somehow they have managed to put together a winner.
Next Up
The Bears will host the Detroit Lions in their first game of the new football season. Stay tuned for a preview of this game coming up later next week.