Observations: Bills look sluggish on both sides of the ball in dud of a preseason loss to Bears
Sean McDermott wasn’t kidding when he said Josh Allen would play one quarter Saturday for the Buffalo Bills. The coach stayed true to his word, lifting his star quarterback in the middle of a drive during the Bills’ preseason opener at Highmark Stadium – a 33-6 loss to the Chicago Bears.
Sean McDermott wasn’t kidding when he said Josh Allen would play one quarter Saturday for the Buffalo Bills.
The team’s head coach stayed true to his word, lifting his star quarterback in the middle of a drive during the Bills’ preseason opener at Highmark Stadium – a 33-6 loss to the Chicago Bears.
“I just felt like it was the right time,” McDermott said after the game of taking Allen out mid drive. “You know, he came out, I thought he had a good warmup, good look in his eye. I saw what I needed to see, so no need to put him out there in harm's way any longer.”
Allen finished the game 2 of 3 for 22 yards. The Bills’ offense went three-and-out on its first possession, with running back James Cook getting stuffed for a 2-yard loss on a third-and-1 play after Allen completed a 7-yard pass to slot receiver Khalil Shakir on second down.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen scrambles during Saturday's preseason opener against the Chicago Bears at Highmark Stadium. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
The Bills’ second series started with a 15-yard completion from Allen to Curtis Samuel on a wide receiver screen. On his penultimate play, Allen scrambled for 7 yards and a first down on a third-and-6 play. Allen wisely slid down at the end of that run, but seeing his quarterback on the move in the open field might have been enough for McDermott.
Just one play later – a 1-yard loss by Cook – the first quarter came to an end, and when the second quarter started, Mitch Trubisky had replaced Allen at quarterback.
“I was told I was going to get a quarter and coach McDermott stuck true to that,” Allen said. “I was hoping I could finish out that drive. But, you know, I felt good with what we did early on and every game is something that we want to win, and today we didn’t do that. Lots to learn from. Again, it’s preseason, I know we’re not game-planning for these games. But we’ve got to be ready to go.”
Trubisky led the Bills’ starting offense to a field goal on that drive, which cut the Chicago lead to 6-3. In addition to Allen, the Bills starting offense included running back James Cook, tight ends Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox and wide receivers Keon Coleman and Shakir. The starting offensive line, from left to right, consisted of Dion Dawkins, David Edwards, Connor McGovern, O’Cyrus Torrence and Spencer Brown.
2. The running game struggled. The Bills’ top two running backs, third-year veteran James Cook and rookie Ray Davis, had nowhere to go behind the starters along the offensive line. Cook managed just 2 yards on four attempts in the first half, while Davis gained just 1 yard on three carries before halftime.
“There is not much more to say other than we didn't control the line of scrimmage from the jump -- all the way down to one of the last series we had on offense, trying to get a first down on third and 1, fourth and 1, whatever it is there, and can't get a yard,” McDermott said. “That's where the challenge comes in. We've got to embrace that challenge. We've got a lot of work to do. We'll look at the film, obviously, and it'll hit us right in the face in terms of what we didn't do well, and that was a big one right there. When you don't control the line of scrimmage, it makes it hard to win.”
3. The defense got off to a tough start. Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, led his team on an eight-play, 58-yard drive to start the game that ended with a 30-yard field goal by Cairo Santos. Williams converted a third and 12 play to keep the drive a live with a 12-yard completion to D.J. Moore, and on the next play found running back D’Andre Swift for a 42-yard gain on a short completion.
Facing third and 1 from the Buffalo 9-yard line, the Bills’ defense got a big stop from cornerback Rasul Douglas, who dropped Bears running back Khalil Herbert for a 3-yard loss.
Williams’ second drive covered 84 yards and lasted 12 plays, ending with a 31-yard field goal by Santos. Williams rolled to his right and made an impressive completion to tight end Cole Kmet for 26 yards to advance the ball to the Bills’ 33-yard line.
Williams went 4 of 7 for 95 yards. With him under center, the Bears gained 142 yards and seven first downs on two possessions.
“I thought he was solid,” Bills nickel cornerback Taron Johnson said. “For the small time we saw him out there, I thought he was a pretty good quarterback. Obviously, hard to tackle back there, and he made a couple really good throws that I saw. I think he's going to be a good quarterback.”
4. A pick-six sealed it. The Bills trailed, 13-6, in the fourth quarter when No. 3 quarterback Shane Buechele targeted running back Frank Gore Jr. The play, however, was easily read by Chicago linebacker Micah Baskerville, who stepped in front of Gore and made the interception, returning it 53 yards for a touchdown. The extra point was missed.
"I just left it a little inside to the running back, and the linebacker jumped it and took it," Buechele said of the throw. "It's frustrating, but it's our job to bounce back and be able to act like nothing really happened. We didn't do that and that starts with me. I need to be better."
The Bears extended their lead later in the fourth quarter with a pair of touchdown runs by Ian Wheeler, from 7 yards and 8 yards. The blowout nature of the loss didn’t sit well with McDermott.
“If you had a blood pressure cuff on me during that game, it probably would have exploded,” McDermott said. “I just think that when you've been around as long as I have, you know to try and keep perspective. That's why they call us coaches also, to take a team where it may be and make it better. That's what we've done here and that's what we're planning to continue to do in terms of taking this team and what we did today and then get them better and better throughout the course of the season.
“I firmly believe that's what a coach's job is to do. That's what we'll do. We'll look at this film and we've got good guys in this locker room. It means something to them. I think some of the younger guys who haven't been in our locker room and some new guys who haven't been in our locker room who are veterans, they start to understand the standard is the standard. It's the standard even in a preseason game -- preseason Week 1. That's probably one of the more irritating things of this, is I don't care who it is, where we're playing, what time of day we play, or in this case preseason game No. 1, there is a standard and an expectation when you put the colors of the Buffalo Bills to come out and play a lot better than we did and coach a lot better than we did. So that's important.”
5. Ed Oliver gave the home team a scare. The Bills’ top defensive tackle suffered a knee injury on the game’s first play from scrimmage – a 3-yard run by Bears running back D’Andre Swift. Oliver came to the sideline with trainers, and the Bills announced a short time later that he had suffered a knee injury. He was cleared to return to the game, but with most of the defensive starters playing just one series, Oliver never did get back on the field.
Late in the third quarter, Bills defensive end Kingsley Jonathan was assisted by trainers after a Chicago run play. Jonathan was able to walk off the field under his own power. He later returned to the game.
In the fourth quarter, wide receiver Bryan Thompson went down and was looked at by trainers. He came off the field and headed straight to the sideline medical tent.
McDermott said he believed his team came out of the game in pretty good shape in regard to injuries.
6. McDermott went 2 for 2. It’s no secret the Bills’ coach has struggled on challenges throughout his career, entering the 2024 season with just a 10-23 record on 33 challenges in both the regular season and postseason since taking over as coach in 2017. Partly because of that record, the Bills hired former NFL referee John Parry this offseason to be an officiating liaison. Parry is expected to offer McDermott advice on when to challenge plays. The Bills’ coach did so successfully twice Saturday against the Bears, getting a pair of called completions overturned. That led to some jokes on social media that Parry was the game’s MVP.
“Yeah, John's involved. It's good to have him,” McDermott said. “It's Marc Lubick up there, Dennis Lock, myself, and then we get some guys on the sideline that like to tell me what to do sometimes also, from time to time. So, I got a lot of help, but it was good to have that today and get experience with some of that again and have John on there and his first game as well.”
7. The new kickoff rule didn’t produce much drama. Bills kicker Tyler Bass’ first two kickoffs went into the end zone for touchbacks, with the new rules meaning the ball came out to the 30-yard line. Whether Bass intentionally missed the “landing zone” between the goal line and the 20-yard line wasn’t immediately clear.
Bass’ third kickoff, which came in the third quarter, did land in the landing zone, and was muffed by Bears returner Velus Jones Jr., who was only able to return the ball to the Chicago 19-yard line after picking it up.
The Bills returned five Chicago kickoffs. Darrynton Evans gained 24 yards on his lone attempt, Andy Isabella gained 20 yards on his lone attempt, Daequan Hardy gained 17 yards on his lone attempt and K.J. Hamler gained 21 yards on two attempts – muffing his second attempt, which led to just a 2-yard return. Two Chicago kickoffs went for a touchback.
Hamler did have a good punt return of 15 yards, while Hardy made a fair catch of a punt inside the Buffalo 5-yard line, which was not a good decision.
“I thought the returners, especially the ones that are new to our team, got a feel for the weather and Buffalo, right? It's a beautiful day, but that wind kicks up out there from time to time, and I think the gusts were pretty significant at times,” McDermott said. “I thought the returners, both K.J. and Dae Dae (Hardy), were having a little bit of trouble tracking the ball, right? I think the first two kickoffs to K.J., especially the second one that we put on the ground there, looked like we were having trouble tracking it, and then the one to Dae Dae late in the game that flew over his head, that wind gusts pretty hard there. That's something that we have to get them over here to do more, to start to understand the wind and how it works here.”
8. Joe Andreessen realized a dream. It’s always special a Western New Yorker gets to wear the red, white and blue home jersey of the Bills, and Andreessen got that chance Saturday. The Lancaster High School graduate finished with four tackles, tied for second most on the team behind Dorian Williams, who had six.
“It was definitely cool,” Andreessen said. “Walking out of the tunnel, seeing everyone out there, it was definitely a surreal experience.”
9. Welcome back, Tremaine Edmunds. The former Bills linebacker, who was a first-round draft pick of the team in 2018 and spent five years in Buffalo before signing a big-money deal as an unrestricted free agent with Chicago ahead of the 2023 season, started at middle linebacker for the Bears. Edmunds finished with three tackles and forced Allen into an incompletion with a well-timed blitz up the middle.
Former Bills offensive lineman Ryan Bates, who is listed on the Bears’ depth chart as their starting center, did not play. Former Bills tight end Tommy Sweeney had a 25-yard gain in the third quarter, finishing with two catches for 29 yards. Jamestown native Stephen Carlson, a tight end for the Bears, was targeted a team-leading four times, finishing with three catches for 18 yards.
10. The Bills held out 11 players. The following were not in uniform because of injury: Wide receivers Mack Hollins (leg), Chase Claypool (toe) and Justin Shorter (knee), safeties Mike Edwards (hamstring) and Cole Bishop (shoulder), running back Ty Johnson (hamstring), linebackers Edefuan Ulofoshio (rib) and Nicholas Morrow (groin), offensive tackle Travis Clayton (shoulder), defensive end Casey Toohill (groin) and defensive tackle DaQuan Jones (groin).
Linebacker Matt Milano (leg) and edge rusher Von Miller (knee) both dressed for the game, but did not play as the team eases them back into action.
“Medically for Matt, it's still part of the plan from the medical staff and then, Von it's more, just managing his reps in the preseason and we'll see how he goes and we go then moving forward week to week with it,” McDermott said. “If you ask him, and you look at his history, he's not been a guy that normally plays at all in the preseason. So, it's just something we'll have to have open lines of communication as we move forward here.”
