My focus:

First has anyone seen anything regarding starters playing? All of my usual sources have nothing on it.

LT - I listened to Tom Thayer yesterday and he said he hasn't seen anyone really take hold of the starting job at LT. I'm guessing this story continues even into the season as Ozzy works his way back. The only thing I can glean from various comments from practice observers is that Kiran is likely done. Wills might work his way back into the competition but that likely depends on his play today. Other than that maybe they just stick with Braxton for the near term to start getting continuity on the line. If Theo is the floor for all this well then we'll get to see that today as well.

DTs: Can the young guys in Loving and VDBerg continue to make progress?

Those are the main storylines for me. Others:

DEs: Can Marcus Davenport avoid injury? Adam Mason had a graphic with his injury history and it looks like an aspirational goal for Kyler Gordon. I don't think he's ever played a full season.

DBs: Malik Muhammed appears to be in the catbird seat for playing the slot. Looking for steady improvement here and I think the Bears give him plenty of reps to help him settle in before week 1.

WRs: Kaden Davis are you for real? Will we even know going against backups with backup QBs?

RBs: Coleman Bennett scored a TD and then got cut. Are any of these backups really deserving of the RB3 rolel?

I doubt we see them, but Dexter, Dayo, Jarrett have been ninjas all preseason. Havent heard much about them which is not good or bad but they need to audition to stay with this team next season.

If we finish the game with no new injuries, I will be happy. That is my main concern. Our depth is not what it needs to be.

Horse collar on Loveland was not called. Some things don't change.

Then, Pass Interference on Rome. ;-(

It's too bad that Benedet has had troubles this week, because I still dont see Braxton as a good player.

He just had like 8 or 9 snaps, and already gave up two pressures and a holding call that stalled our drive. Yuck!

Second team is in there, Benedet at RT, and Jones still at LT - we will get a longer look at him.

Benedet not looking perfect either, but he's done pretty well in there I think.

I think the main takeaway is that none of them is really good enough to convincingly take the job. So like i thought earlier, having 4 mid players doesnt create a good one.

Thank God Trapilo is coming back at some point. He's obviously better than the rest of them "put together"

20 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

Benedet not looking perfect either, but he's done pretty well in there I think.

I think the main takeaway is that none of them is really good enough to convincingly take the job. So like i thought earlier, having 4 mid players doesnt create a good one.

Thank God Trapilo is coming back at some point. He's obviously better than the rest of them "put together"

Next week of practice will be it. They need to get one of these guys capable of playing average.

Hard to believe none of the 4 players elevated to take the job.

Agree ASHKUM.

There's a mental effect that happens when you have a choice between a limited number of options. it's like "which spice girl was the cutest?" and the answer is empircally none of them, but because there are 5 of them you automatically decide which one is the best of the group.

Street vendors of cheap jewelry use this trick all the time. They have some average crap earrings, so they put them out next to 3 other ones that are awful. They probably dont even have a supply of the bad ones, just a bag full of the average ones. And next to the others, the mediocre ones look good enough to buy.

Itd be true if 2 were playing well too, wed probably all be saying one or the other of them was the best one.

But yeah, putting 4 mediocre players together deosnt mean you can craft a good one out of them because of the other ones. I made that point here a few weeks ago, and it seems to be playing out.

For me, Benedet is the best of the group, but maybe thats just me falling prey to what i described above. Probably the truth is that none of them is good enough.

If Trapilo isnt ready opening day, we will find out who they go with. But that doesnt even mean they wont replace them by week 4 or something with someone else.

Hope Trapilo is on his way back quickly, and can play at a high level when he returns.

57 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

Agree ASHKUM.

There's a mental effect that happens when you have a choice between a limited number of options. it's like "which spice girl was the cutest?" and the answer is empircally none of them, but because there are 5 of them you automatically decide which one is the best of the group.

Street vendors of cheap jewelry use this trick all the time. They have some average crap earrings, so they put them out next to 3 other ones that are awful. They probably dont even have a supply of the bad ones, just a bag full of the average ones. And next to the others, the mediocre ones look good enough to buy.

Itd be true if 2 were playing well too, wed probably all be saying one or the other of them was the best one.

But yeah, putting 4 mediocre players together deosnt mean you can craft a good one out of them because of the other ones. I made that point here a few weeks ago, and it seems to be playing out.

For me, Benedet is the best of the group, but maybe thats just me falling prey to what i described above. Probably the truth is that none of them is good enough.

If Trapilo isnt ready opening day, we will find out who they go with. But that doesnt even mean they wont replace them by week 4 or something with someone else.

Hope Trapilo is on his way back quickly, and can play at a high level when he returns.

I had no problem seeing them bring back Braxton and add Wills to up the competition. Benedict is a bull dog, but limited on pass protection due to length. He is better technical and effort. Kiran and Jones seem like the same baby huey. Have the prototype body and athletism but lazy with no kill mentality. Wills is probably closer to Benedict body wise. Then we have Ozzy, who i think will get there and be a solid LT, but doesn't have that agility the others have. So we have 5 guys with a mole. I dont see them in position to draft a gem for a couple years, so we need Ozzy to do all the right things when back.

15 minutes ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

I had no problem seeing them bring back Braxton and add Wills to up the competition. Benedict is a bull dog, but limited on pass protection due to length. He is better technical and effort. Kiran and Jones seem like the same baby huey. Have the prototype body and athletism but lazy with no kill mentality. Wills is probably closer to Benedict body wise. Then we have Ozzy, who i think will get there and be a solid LT, but doesn't have that agility the others have. So we have 5 guys with a mole. I dont see them in position to draft a gem for a couple years, so we need Ozzy to do all the right things when back.

i agree with this. If Benedet can get his footwork and reaction time to outside moves a little tighter, i think he is our best option behind Trapilo. But he has struggled with those.

Personally, id never trust Braxton Jones, but I know it's not like there are lot of options, so i understand the move. But he is still a liability on the field.

I still have hope for Benedet, but he's not the answer either, just maybe the best #2 option.

NFL Network won't broadcast the game until the replay at 6am AZ time. I'll get it recorded and watch tomorrow. Some tidbits I can glean from what appears to be an overall bad game.

Kaden Davis was returning the first two kick offs from the Bengals. Combine that with the few first team snaps in practice in Cincy and it's clear the coaches are giving him a good look toward staying on the 53.

Caleb looked good before the penalty then off afterward. He became Caleb of old with the big game hunting mentality trying to get it all back quickly. Don't like the fact he and Rome were off on the route read for the 3rd and 20 play. That's why they practice.

Bears Wire called Jordan van den Berg one of the studs of the game and said he looked good garnering 3 tackles. I'll focus on him tomorrow. We need a good surprise on the Dline, or two.

15 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

NFL Network won't broadcast the game until the replay at 6am AZ time. I'll get it recorded and watch tomorrow. Some tidbits I can glean from what appears to be an overall bad game.

Kaden Davis was returning the first two kick offs from the Bengals. Combine that with the few first team snaps in practice in Cincy and it's clear the coaches are giving him a good look toward staying on the 53.

Caleb looked good before the penalty then off afterward. He became Caleb of old with the big game hunting mentality trying to get it all back quickly. Don't like the fact he and Rome were off on the route read for the 3rd and 20 play. That's why they practice.

Bears Wire called Jordan van den Berg one of the studs of the game and said he looked good garnering 3 tackles. I'll focus on him tomorrow. We need a good surprise on the Dline, or two.

Dayo might be a surprise, he did decent tonight with pressure. Dexter had a pressure and a dumb offsides.he seems to get off the ball the couple plays i watched him. 96, when he is in, I am paying attention.