The Chicago Bears couldn’t have asked for a better debut of their starting lineup last Sunday night against Buffalo. Caleb Williams and the offense scored on their opening drive. The defense got a quick stop on theirs. From there, the backups took care of the rest, hanging 31 unanswered points on Buffalo for a 38-0 victory. This left an interesting question. After seeing such a performance, what would Ben Johnson do in the preseason finale against the Kansas City Chiefs?
It would be a short week, considering the game is on Friday. The team is already dealing with some injury issues. Maybe he might choose caution and sit his top guys out.
Nope.
Johnson revealed to Kay Adams on Up & Adams that the plan is to get the starters some work against the defending AFC champions at Arrowhead Stadium. He isn’t yet sure how long they’ll be out there, but it is a fair assumption to be at least a couple of series.
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Ben Johnson is taking a somewhat surprising approach.
Historically, teams choose to sit their starters in the preseason finale every year. Why the change? The likeliest answer is time. There is a 17-day gap between the end of the preseason and the start of the regular season. Ben Johnson probably doesn’t want his players going three weeks without any kind of game experience. It could dull their edge. Never mind there is also the benefit of having them simulate a game in a hostile stadium against one of the best teams in football. While the injury risks are always worth discussing, this approach has clear benefits. Remember, Andy Reid already announced he’d be playing the Chiefs’ starters in this game. If it’s good enough for Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Chris Jones, it should be good enough for the Bears.
