Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins: The good, the bad and the ugly

The Good

The rookies

They got 53 yards rushing on 13 carries from their two rookie backs, Kyle Monangai and Deion Hankins. They had the two longest Bears runs, a 13-yarder by Monangai and 12-yarder by Hankins. They also had a 4-yard TD catch by Hankins to go with nine catches by rookies total for 89 yards, including three for 41 and a TD by Jahdae Walker. That's 142 yards of offense and two TDs from rookie players, some drafted like Monangai with his 30 yards on six carries, and some undrafted like Hankins with his 23 yards on seven carries.

The defensive front

They held Dolphins rushers below 4.0 yards per carry while generating a pass rush that accounted for five of their six sacks. Dominique Robinson and Zacch Pickens added sacks to the three by Austin Booker a total of his that included a strip sack.

This would be enough to satisfy any curmudgeon defensive coordinator but when you can push a team back 2 yards on second, third and fourth down from inside the 2-yard line, and get the goal-line stand from Noah Sewell, you've made a statement. But wait, there's more. They made the stand as backups and even some third-stringers against the Dolphins starters.

A 67.0 Miami passer rating could be attributed largely to their front seven applying heat.

Cairo Santos

A 57-yard field goal into the wind stands out for any kicker except possibly Cam Little. Santos often gets tagged with having a weak leg even though set a franchise record last year by making 8-of-9 from 50 yards and out.

Bears QBs

Except for Tyson Bagent not seeing a wide-open Burden in the end zone on one pass play near the goal line, the Bears QBs had an efficient day combined with the spectacular. They had a 96.5 passer rating between the three. The 26 of 39 doesn't reach Ben Johnson's 70% goal but is a healthy 66.6%. The TD pass Bagent threw to Maurice Alexander and the TD thrown by Case Keenum to Jahdae Walker were on the money and actually in places where only they could make the catch.

Jahdae Walker's end zone dance

It was so much fun that Case Keenum said he was going to join in, and then realized who he was.

The Bad

Major Burns

He suffered a major burn when he tried to step up and tackle Nick Westbrook-Ikhine in the second quarter and completely whiffed, allowing the catch to go on for 35 yards and set up the second Dolphins TD. Not the kind of instinctive play you'd like to see from a safety candidate.

Penalties

The seven flags against the Bears for 41 yards is no reason to celebrate, although it sure beat the heck out o the 10 for 68 on Miami. Jordan McFadden what are you thinking? He had a false start penalty with 16 seconds left coming out of a timeout with the ball at the Miami 41 and the Bears needing only about 2 or 3 yards to be in field goal range to win it.

Bears kick coverage

Richard Hightower has some work to do. The Bears special teams coordinator couldn't be pleased with a 41-yard kick return by Dee Eskridge, a 38-yarder by AJ Henning and a 37-yarder by Erik Ezukcanma.

Bears punt coverage

But wait, there's more. Eskridge made a 16-yard punt return and Malik Washington had a 19-yard punt return.

Bears punting

But wait, there's still more. Punter Tory Taylor had a case of the lows. He was hitting line drives that were easily returned. He averaged 34 yards net.

The ugly

Th final score

A 24-24 tie.

As ugly as this is, it could be worse. Before 2021, they would have been playing overtime.                                                                                                                                       

No one wants an overtime preseason game.

Larry Borom

He got a presnap penalty for illegal formation on the first play from scrimmage for Miami. Sure this column is supposed to be reserved for Bears plays and not Miami's, but hey, for old time's sake. How many times have we seen that?