CANTON, Ohio — With Chicago Bears starters sitting out the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game against the Houston Texans, the biggest moments for many Bears fans Thursday night at Tom Benson Stadium might have happened before kickoff.
New Hall of Fame members Devin Hester and Julius Peppers, who will be enshrined Saturday, marched across the field to big cheers before the NFL’s opening preseason game. Misty McMichael, the wife of Steve “Mongo” McMichael — who remains at home while battling ALS — also participated in the pregame introduction and joined the crew of inductees for a pregame photo.
Beyond the Hall festivities, new Bears Caleb Williams, Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze were among the starters who warmed up before the game. But as promised by coach Matt Eberflus earlier in the week, Bears starters spent the game on the sideline watching their backups take on the Texans backups. The rest of the night, then, was a look at the Bears depth.
The Bears won 21-17 in a game suspended and then called with 3 minutes, 13 seconds left in the third quarter because of storms.
Here’s our rundown of the preseason opener.
A bit of Bagent
Backup quarterback Tyson Bagent, the second-year player who made four starts last year, started in place of Williams but played in just one drive. He completed 2 of 3 passes for 16 yards, including a 9-yarder to tight end Stephen Carlson. The Bears punted on the drive after tight end Tommy Sweeney was flagged for a false start on fourth-and-1 from the Texans 37.
Veteran backup Brett Rypien took over on the next drive and threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Collin Johnson, a 2020 Jacksonville Jaguars fifth-round pick who is in his second season with the Bears.
Rypien completed 11 of 15 passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns. That included a 22-yard touchdown pass to Sweeney in the second quarter and a 9-yarder to Johnson in the third.
Even though it was a preseason game, Rypien said Thursday meant a lot to him since his last start with the Los Angeles Rams in November was a 20-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Photos: Chicago Bears 21, Houston Texans 17 in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game
“I had a bad taste in my mouth the entire offseason and took the approach that I didn’t really know how this year was going to look,” he said. “Didn’t even know if I was going to have the opportunity to compete for anything. But I just kept working hard every single day and said, ‘I’m just going to do whatever I can and know how I’ve played my best football and try to get back to that.’ So when you put in the work and it shows, it feels good.”
Johnson, who had one catch in three games last year, had three receptions for 56 yards. Rypien said he has been close with Johnson since he got to Halas Hall.
“With a guy like that with that much size, and he has great release ability too,” Rypien said. “So when you get into press coverage, there are so many different types of throws you can make to him. You can lead him over the top. You can throw those kind of longer back shoulders, which was what I was doing tonight. Because I knew he had the size advantage on the corner.”
Rundown
Running backs Roschon Johnson and Khalil Herbert, who were pushed down the depth chart with the offseason addition of D’Andre Swift, split carries in the first half.
Herbert had four carries for 35 yards, including a 19-yarder on the Bears’ first touchdown drive. Johnson added six carries for 24 yards.
Herbert, who missed five games with an ankle injury last year, said he thought his burst has returned. He did track and sled work as part of his training in the offseason to regain it.
“That’s what I worked all offseason on, working on getting healthy, getting that back,” Herbert said.
Demetric Felton took over in the second half.
Kicking off the new rules
The Bears and Texans were the first teams to try out the new kickoff rules in a preseason game.
The Bears held out kick returner Velus Jones Jr. from their first foray into the rules and had Tyler Scott and Greg Stroman instead as returners to open the game. Scott had two returns for 40 yards as he got a feel for how the changes will affect him.
“If the kick is short, guys are like right up on you,” Scott said. “So you kind of have to make one cut and go, which I feel like there’s benefits to that because if one guy misses then you’re good. But at the same time, if you make the wrong cut, somebody is right there.
“So far, I feel like it protects guys a little more. Guys aren’t getting a full head of steam coming down the field, taking shots on people. But for the most part, I think it will work out pretty good and I think you’ll get a lot of explosive plays.”
John Jackson had two kickoff returns for 59 yards.
“Just getting used to the speed and blocks hitting a little faster,” Jackson said. “We were being a little more aggressive today for obvious reasons, preseason, trying to do what you can. A couple of them we took out of the end zone that usually we would take the knee and take the 30.”
The Bears were flagged once for an illegal formation on a Scott return, but the Texans declined that penalty. The Texans also were flagged for an illegal formation, a penalty the Bears declined.
Bears ‘D’ gives up early lead
The Bears defense didn’t get off to a great start, allowing the Texans to pull ahead 10-0 behind backup quarterback Davis Mills, who started in place of C.J. Stroud.
Texans tight end Teagan Quitoriano beat linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga to get free for a 9-yard touchdown catch from Mills to cap a 74-yard opening drive.
On the next drive, safety Elijah Hicks made an open-field tackle of J.J. Taylor to save the Bears from giving up a long touchdown.
But the Texans still put together a scoring drive, capped by a Ka’imi Fairbairn 33-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead. The Texans biggest play came when Mills stepped aside from a Daniel Hardy rush and delivered a 27-yard strike to Ben Skowronek, who jumped up to catch it in front of Jaylon Jones.
For the Bears defense, Khalid Kareem had a tackle for a loss against Mills. Byron Cowart sacked third-string quarterback Case Keenum and forced a fumble. And Leon Jones had two passes defended.
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