Shepkowski: The Good, Bad and Ugly of Bears/Titans

By Nick Shepkowski-

(WSCR) In what is the most telling game of the preseason, the Bears fell in Tennessee 14-13 on Saturday night. The loss puts the Bears at 1-2 in the preseason with just a Thursday night clash against Cleveland left before the regular season finally begins. Before we move ahead however, a quick look back at the positives and negatives from Saturday night.

The Good

Earl Bennett - I often say that Bennett would be the best wide reciever on the team if he had the same speed as a Devin Hester or Johnny Knox, or if he had the same build as Roy Williams. Forget that, his crisp route running and ability to extend his arms to make a catch make him a lot more trustworthy to throw towards than some of his teammates. I wouldn't expect six catches for 89 yards on a weekly basis for Earl, but a strong showing on Saturday regardless.

Chris Williams - He hasn't gotten a lot of pub which can be good for an offensive lineman but he's had a strong pre-season. Not allowing much pressure from his left guard position and he was once again a solid bet to run behind again on Saturday night. Sure he wasn't drafted to play guard but he's going to be plenty respectable there.

Amobi Okoye - After a poor showing on Monday night Okoye was in need of a strong performance vs. Tennessee and he got it. A pair of tackles for loss as well as a sack should cancel any doubt we had about Okoye making the final 53 man roster.

Matt Forte - No extremely impressive runs last night but 74 rush yards on 14 carries and a 15 yard reception. You saw Marion Barber get hurt while Chester Taylor was nowhere to be found. No, he's not Chris Johnson or Adrian Peterson but another typical "Forte type night" shows how important he is in order for this offense to succeed.

3rd Down Conversions - Last year the Bears converted just 32.8% of third downs (27th in the league) so it was nice to see them convert 9 of 16 (56.2%) last night. Defensively giving up just 3 of 11 (27.2%) was obviously another positive.

Playcalling Balance - Cutler attempted 21 passes while Forte had 17 rushes. Marion Barber and Devin Hester each had a carry while Cutler was in too, leaving the playcalling with the starting quarterback at 21 passes to 19 runs. Liked seeing that as last year went on and most will hope to see it closer to 50/50 again this season.

The Bad

Wide Recievers sans Earl Bennett - Roy Williams had a ball bounce off his hands that wound up intercepted while Devin Hester had a bad drop on 2nd and 5 before pulling in a long reception the next play. Johnny Knox, who is competing for time also had a bad moment where he lost track of where he was and couldn't come down with a foot in bounds despite being wide open and pulling the ball in.

Tim Jennings - I know I gave him praise for his tackling ability last week but he missed badly on a jam and was beat more than once deep. It's a good thing Matt Hasselbeck is quarterbacking the Titans and overthrowing receivers who were open deep.

Gabe Carimi - Oversold run first play and the defensive end didn't bite, instead almost killed Cutler on a rollout. Another false start by #72 also did no favors. It wasn't a truly awful showing but you could see Carimi's footwork and pad-level still has room to grow. I'll admit I was premature in asking him to move to LT last week.

The Ugly

Vernon Gholston - Another very quiet night from the Jets bust, not generating much pressure at all. Barring injury to an end, its hard to imagine Gholston ends up on the final roster.

Caleb Hanie - I know he's the backup quarterback and if he has to play for any extended amount of time this year the Bears are screwed but I'm still trying to figure out what he's throwing at on his pick-6. Amazing how much longer it takes his ball to get to its destination after watching Cutler throw 20+ times as well.

Brian Iwuh - Watching his coverage skills was a rough go on Saturday. Bit hard on playaction and was often out of place in coverage because of it. Really hoping the linebackers stay healthy because there is an obvious drop-off with Iwuh on the field.

Robbie Gould - He's been the most accurate kicker in Bears history, I get that. He's also been brutal this pre-season. Sure there are some extra long kicks included in this but he's made just 5/9 field goals this preseason and missed a 29 yarder last night. Sam Rosen can blame it on Adam Podlesh all he wants but Gould hasn't had a good pre-season.

Injuries - Marion Barber was able to carry the ball just one time while Desmond Clark was carted off after a pretty vicious hit to his left knee. No word yet on the severity of either but injuries are obviously something you don't like to see, especially in these games that don't count for anything.

Just one more pre-season game to go and we won't see a whole lot from the starters in that one. I don't remember enjoying watching pre-season football as much as I have this year but it'll be a relief once these games start counting for something two weeks from today.