Fields among preseason winners while 49ers fumble Jimmy G scenario originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Finally, the games count.
Week 1 of the NFL season is here, with the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams kicking off the season Thursday night against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.
The Matt Eberflus era will get underway on Sept. 11 in Chicago when the Bears welcome Trey Lance and the San Francisco 49ers to Soldier Field.
The past month of preseason action has given us an early indicator of where teams stand entering Week 1.
Teams like the Bills and Kansas City Chiefs look as advertised, while the New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys appear to have serious issues.
As for the Bears, quarterback Justin Fields and the offense have made slow, steady progress installing their new system. The offensive line has started to come together, and the defense should be better than expected.
The past month has been kind to some teams and given others a rude awakening.
Here are the winners and losers of the NFL preseason:
Winner: Bears
The Bears went 3-0 in the preseason. While that’s not worth much, the offensive progress they’ve made, coupled with the display quarterback Justin Fields put on in the final against the Cleveland Browns, should make those preparing to flock to Soldier Field this fall optimistic about the future.
The second-year quarterback spent the offseason working on his footwork, mechanics, and pocket presence. Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s scheme promises to play to Fields’ strengths, and we saw how the marriage of skill and system could be deadly during the final preseason game.
Fields’ improvement is noticeable, but there’s still much to be done.
“Yeah, I think there’s progress being made,” general manager Ryan Poles said of Fields. “He looked comfortable. I think before, again, I kind of talked about all of this, his technique and his fundamentals and his feet, and then the new offense, the new coaches, the new system, there’s a lot going on both physically and mentally. So, I thought as the preseason has played out and even practice, you could see things start to slow down, and him read defenses quicker and pull the trigger, and it was really cool to see him finish up that way.
“With the preseason, you don’t want to overvalue preseason. You don’t want to undervalue. It’s somewhere in the middle. So, it was positive, so we’ll take that, and let’s just see. The lights are going to come on and it’s going to be real and they’re going to count, so we’ll see from there, but I’m happy with the progress.”
August was turbulent for the Bears, with Roquan Smith’s contract drama and Teven Jenkins trade speculation overshadowing any on-field progress. But Smith ended his hold-in and will play out the final year of his contract. The addition of the 25-year-old linebacker has added some juice to defensive coordinator Alan Williams’ defense and gives head coach Matt Eberflus the game-changer he needs at the WILL linebacker.
As for Jenkins, his late-August switch to guard has been a success. Jenkins appears to have secured the starting right guard spot after two preseason games and a handful of practices, and it seems like he’ll remain in Chicago this season.
The Bears’ rebuild will take time, but progress was made during August.
Loser: San Francisco 49ers
Head coach Kyle Shanahan turned the keys over to second-year quarterback Trey Lance this offseason with the expectation that Jimmy Garoppolo would be elsewhere by Week 1.
That’s not the case.
With no teams willing to take on Garoppolo’s contract, the 49ers and the veteran quarterback agreed to a reduced salary to keep Garoppolo on as the backup. Garoppolo has been away from the team during camp but now returns to a locker room that loves him as the guy looking over Lance’s shoulder.
It feels like a chemistry experiment that could go wrong.
On the field, Lance showed flashes of his rare talent but was far from perfect. Add in a tenuous interior offensive line situation, and the 49ers might have a bumpy road out of the gates with Garoppolo waiting in the wings if Lance falters.
Winner: Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles already won the offseason when they traded for AJ Brown, signed James Bradberry, and drafted Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean.
But general manager Howie Roseman wasn’t done.
Before cut-down day, the Eagles traded their 2023 fifth-round draft pick and the latter of their two sixth-round draft picks in 2024 to the New Orleans Saints for Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and the Saints’ 2025 seventh-round pick.
Gardner-Johnson was the latest in a string of slick moves Roseman has made to quickly transform the Eagles from a rebuilding project to a Super Bowl contender.
The Eagles’ fate will likely rest on the progress Jalen Hurts has made this offseason, but all the pieces are there for a deep playoff run.
Loser: Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys have had a rough go of it ever since Dak Prescott botched the end-of-game management in Dallas’ playoff loss to the 49ers.
Due to cap constraints, the Cowboys lost wide receiver Amari Cooper, offensive tackle La’el Collins, and guard Connor Williams.
Dallas’ offensive line situation got worse last week when star left tackle Tyron Smith suffered an avulsion fracture of the knee that will force him to miss most of the season.
The Cowboys are reportedly working on a deal with veteran tackle Jason Peters, but it’s clear their offensive line is a shell of the force it used to be.
Don’t be surprised if Mike McCarthy is the first coach fired if the Cowboys get off to a slow start.
Winner: Mitchell Trubisky
After spending a season at the Brian Daboll School of Quarterback Rehabilitation in Buffalo, the Bears’ former first-round pick appears to have won the starting job in Pittsburgh during the preseason.
Trubisky ran with the ones throughout camp and capped off his preseason by going 15-for-19 for 160 yards in the Steelers’ preseason finale. That performance was likely enough to hold off rookie Kenny Pickett, who also had an impressive exhibition season.
Head coach Mike Tomlin has not yet announced who his starter will be in Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals. But all signs point to Trubisky getting a second chance to prove he can be a starter in the NFL.
“I think I’ve just shown I can run this offense, I can lead this offense, and I have what it takes to help this team win games,” Trubisky said after the Steelers’ preseason finale.
First-round picks almost always get second chances in the NFL. But third chances are much harder to find. The Steelers believe they have the talent to win a Super Bowl with solid quarterback play. Is Trubisky capable of delivering that in the brutal AFC North?
Loser: New England Patriots
Bill Belichick’s decision to hand his offense over to the combination of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge always seemed like a bad idea.
Early returns have not been kind.
The Patriots’ offense has struggled to do anything positive during the preseason. Belichick, Judge, and Patricia worked all offseason to tweak the offense to work within the coaching limits of the assistants. The plan was to tweak Josh McDaniels’ system to play faster and more efficiently.
That hasn’t happened.
During the Patriots’ final preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders’ backups, the starting offense gained 1 yard and committed one holding penalty on four outside zone runs, a new staple of the offense. Right tackle Isaiah Wynn allowed two sacks and let a blitzer tee off on quarterback Mac Jones.
Basically, nothing has worked.
Jones is entering a critical second season, but Belichick’s decision not to go outside the family for an OC hire could harm the long-term development of his quarterback.
Can Hoodie fix what Patricia and Judge broke?
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