Chicago Bears Preseason: Game balls from Week 2 loss to Colts

The Chicago Bears fell to the Indianapolis Colts 21-17 in Week 2 of the NFL preseason, marking the first preseason loss for the Bears in the Matt Eberflus era.

Preseason wins and losses obviously don’t mean much, except maybe to the players, but the Bears finished the 2022 preseason a perfect 3-0. We know how the regular season turned out.

What does matter in the preseason are individual performances. With that in mind, let’s hand out some game balls for Week 2.

Tyson Bagent

Vindication!

I’ve been talking about the Shepherd University quarterback since last December, practically begging GM Ryan Poles and the Bears to draft him, and on Saturday, the NFL got to see why.

Bagent entered the game in the second quarterback and immediately snapped the offense out of its funk, marching 92 yards on 17 plays and capping the drive off with a 2-yard rushing touchdown.

Bagent finished his day 9-of-10 passing for 76 yards and a touchdown, good for a 98.3 passer rating. He was accurate, on time, and most importantly poised, far more poised than you’d expect a UDFA rookie to look.

In his postgame interview, Bagent credited much of that to his long college career and the invaluable experience of playing so much football. Greg Gabriel, the Bears’ former director of college scouting, pointed out on Twitter that Bagent attempted more passes in college than Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, and Anthony Richardson combined.

It may be too early to say this, and we wouldn’t be talking about it if the Bears currently had a dependable veteran QB2 on the roster, but Bagent is making a strong case to be Justin Fields’ backup quarterback.

Roschon Johnson

After a so-so NFL debut against the Titans, Roschon Johnson looked every bit like the workhorse running back that many expect him to be on Saturday night.

RoJo carried the rock seven times for 32 tough yards. He dragged defenders forward, knocked defensive backs over on their backsides, and picked up four first-downs on one scoring drive in the second quarter.

One play, in particular, stood out from Johnson’s night. On a pitch from Bagent, he was swarmed in the backfield and should have lost yards, but he found a narrow gap and powered through for a positive gain. Those hidden yards matter, and they could be what separates him from D’Onta Foreman on the depth chart.

There still is no RB1 controversy, Khalil Herbert is the starting running back, but if the rookie keeps stacking these performances, he could be challenging for that spot sooner than later.

Daurice Fountain

With the starting receivers on the sideline, every other pass catcher got a great chance to put their best foot forward and convince Ryan Poles that they deserve a roster spot. Fountain probably made the best case for a roster spot on Saturday, as he finished with five catches for 86 yards and a beautiful deep touchdown catch in which he dusted his defender with a double-move and caught a perfect pass from Nathan Peterman.

The Bears will probably carry six receivers on the active roster, and we know that DJ Moore, Darnell Mooney, and Chase Claypool are locks. Equinameous St. Brown and rookie Tyler Scott are probably safe for WR4 and WR5. That leaves one roster spot for receivers, and at this point, Fountain is looking like the best option.

Honorable Mentions: Terrell Lewis, for registering the team’s only sack of the night, and Cairo Santos, for going 2/2 on extra point attempts and a 50-yard field goal.