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What To Watch For In The Most Meaningless Game

| September 3rd, 2015

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Remember last year when David Fales hit Santonio Holmes and Holmes made a move before scoring a 32-yard touchdown? Holmes looked like an NFL wide receiver when, in reality, he was just a veteran playing with a bunch of young players. It didn’t translate, just as nothing from the fourth preseason game does. Veterans usually look good because they’re going against rookies and we can’t tell if one group of rookies stinks or if the other is good.

But here is some stuff to watch for:

1. Offensive tackle. Will the Bears play Long over there? Will Long play at all? Where will Leno line up? Is Mills back with the starters? Can anyone else take the job? OK, you get it, it’s a nightmare.

2. Tight ends. The Bears picked up two tight ends during the week, even trading a sixth-round pick for one of them. It’s clear they don’t like any of the tight ends on the roster not named Martellus Bennett. It’s a safe bet that Khari Lee makes the roster since they gave up a draft pick for him, but can veterans Dante Rosario, Zach Miller and Bear Pascoe make the cut?

3. Wide receivers. All of the young players have made plays at some point this preseason, but none have shown consistency. With the injury question marks at the position, the Bears need to know if they can rely on any of them for a spot start. If not, they’ll have to search through the cuts made by other teams.

4. Ka’Deem Carey. No other running back should touch the ball, which means Carey has a prime chance to show he belongs in the NFL. The Bears are probably going to keep four running backs and Senorise Perry going on IR means that fourth spot is open. Whether it is taken by Carey or not could be determined in this game.

5. Zac Dysert. The perception was that when the Bears signed Zac Dysert, it was bad news for Fales, but it might also be bad news for Jimmy Clausen. While Clausen is out with a concussion, Fales and Dysert are expected to get all of the snaps, if they both impress, it could spell trouble for the injury-prone veteran. The word throughout Denver at this time last year was that they loved Dysert, some even thought he was better than Brock Osweiler. New Denver coach Gary Kubiak obviously disagreed even though they tried him with the second team over Osweiler in OTAs, but decided to move on last week. Dysert has more experience in Gase’s system than any other player on the roster and has good physical skills, that could be enough to get him the backup job behind Cutler.

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