The Bills dominated the first half, taking a 34-6 halftime lead. Buffalo scored touchdowns on its first four possessions, produced runs on six of seven practices and held decisive advantages in opening downs (19-4) and total yards (279-145).
Coach Matt Nagy wasn’t too rambunctious after last weekend’s win over the Dolphins and won’t be too downtrodden following Saturday’s loss. But he knows the Bears need to play better than they did against the Bills.
“I’m happy this is the preseason for us to assess,” Nagy said. “I know we all want to win. But it’s like last week: we felt good and there’s a high, but you have to be careful with that. We want to make sure we stay right in the middle and understand that ‘today wasn’t good enough. It’s my job to make sure we’re better. We have to train better. We have to play better in the game, and ultimately the evaluation process for us is to see where these guys are, and now we’re a week away from doing more [roster] the decisions.”
With Bills starter Josh Allen at rest, former Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky played the entire first half, completing 20 of 28 passes for 221 yards with one touchdown and a 106.4 passer rating. The Bears’ defense has repeatedly allowed Trubisky to make short, quick passes down the center and missed several tackles.
The Bills took a 28-0 lead with touchdowns on Devin Singletary’s 14-yard run, Trubisky’s 4-yard pass to Jake Kumerow and a pair of 1-yard runs from Reggie Gilliam. After the Bears defense finally stopped Buffalo with a three-and-out, Bills kicker Tyler Bass added 33 and 41 yards in the final: 74 of halftime.
The Bears, meanwhile, failed to score on six of seven possessions in the first half. They had three threes-and-punts, made two turnovers on an Andy Dalton interception and a lost fumble from Damien Williams, and returned the ball to the downs.
The only score for the offense in the first half came on Dalton’s 73-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Rodney Adams, who snatched the well-thrown ball from Siran Neal’s hard hat and rushed to the end zone. TD accounted for more than half of the Bears’ footage in the first half of the year; they only amassed 72 yards on their other 22 plays.
“We didn’t pick up too much pace at the start,” said Dalton. “We would like to be a little more efficient and more consistent in our performance. It was nice to bring the ball deep to Rodney. He made an incredible play.”
Dalton completed 11 of 17 passes for 146 yards with one touchdown, one interception and an 86.9 passer rating in the first half.
The Bears did not allow the Buffalo offense to score a touchdown in the second half. But the Bills nonetheless increased their lead to 41-6 as Marquez Stevenson returned a 79-yard punt for a touchdown midway through the third quarter.
The Bears responded by marching to the Buffalo 7, as Justin Fields ran for 16 yards in the fourth and 3 and 11 yards on the 7. But the rookie quarterback threw back-to-back incompletions aimed at Jesse James and Adams in the third. and fourth and goal of 9.
The Bears scored their second touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter on rookie Khalil Herbert’s 13-yard run, reducing the deficit to 41-12. The score came from a play after blitz linebacker Andre Smith was fined 15 yards for a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit on Fields that knocked the quarterback’s helmet off and elicited boos a crowd.
Bears backup kicker Brian Johnson had a 54-yard field goal with 5:29 remaining, closing the lead to 41-15.
The Bears generated two takeaways in the fourth quarter, both on fumbles recoveries by rookie inside linebacker Caleb Johnson. The second came on a strip / sack by second-year outside linebacker Trevis Gipson against Bills third-string quarterback Davis Webb.
Playing the entire second half, Fields completed 9 of 19 passes for 80 yards and a 59.1 passer rating. He also led the Bears on the ground with 46 yards on four carries.