What Chicago Bears need to see most facing KC to end preseason

Defenses are going to come after Williams, particularly the first two Bears regular-season opponents. The Lions and Vikings love to blitz.

Williams needs to stand and fire and consistently move the team.

2. Run blocking

The Bears mauled Buffalo with the ground game, churning out 171 yards. However, this was all from the backup offensive line against backups and third-team Buffalo defensive players. Regardless of who the backs are—and they really shouldn't be looking long at D'Andre Swift because of the poor health of their other top backs—the run blocking must surface.

It's not that it was poor last week. They just didn't run.

The first drive went for a touchdown and had one 5-yard run, while center Drew Dalman got flagged for holding on another run. On the second drive, they had 2-yard and 3-yard runs. All of those runs came against backups, and their first-team offensive line didn't play against Miami in the first preseason game.

Those practice reps are all fine but seeing the first-team offensive line sustain some solid run blocks in their work on Friday would go a long way toward instilling confidence both in the running attack and the play-action passing game.

3. Nahshon Wright coverage

It appears Jaylon Johnson is starting to ramp up his recovery from injury but no one has said he will definitely be back for the opener. Even if he is, what kind of playing shape can a cornerback be in after missing the last month's practice. He's not going to be at optimal level and he'll be facing Justin Jefferson.

Because of Johnson's tentative status, they'll need to be certain Wright can step into coverage against top NFL passing attacks. The Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes provide this proving ground.

Wright has started three games and been on an NFL field 269 plays of defense in four seasons. It's not much to go on facing Jefferson and the preseason so far has afforded him only a chance to work against starters only at his own practices and in joint practices with the Bills and Dolphins.

4. Edge rush wins

Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo don't need to rip Mahomes' helmet off or anything but it would be good to know they can pressure off the edge. If Andy Reid makes good on his promise and injuries are not holding anyone back on the line, Sweat and Odeyingbo would be working against tackles Josh Simmons and Jawaan Taylor. Simmons is a rookie coming off an ACL tear and Taylor had a sub-par year with seven sacks allowed while ranking 48th as a pass blocker of 140 tackles in the league, according to Pro Football Focus.

They should be able to achieve some pressure without Dennis Allen putting on the blitz on every play.

5. Slow Braxton Jones defeats

Ben Johnson described it best. They know they can't expect their left tackle to win every one-on-one with edge rushers on pass plays, but they need him to lose slowly if he has to lose.

Plays like the whiff he had in Week 1 simply can't happen if Williams hopes to keep his head on his shoulders.

6. More Colston Loveland

The little glimpse of their first-round pick last week only whetted the appetite for more. Johnson loves his 12-personnel packages with Loveland and Cole Kmet. It worked to perfection last week when both were on the field, and served to spread out the defense so Olami de Zaccheaus could exploit a big gap for the touchdown.

Doing this against a defense that ranked ninth in the league last year should be somewhat different.

7. Return game

The coverage on kicks and punts improved last week but they still haven't been able to consistently spring anything on any type of return. Ryan Poles signed Devin Duvernay in the offseason and he hasn't shown much on retu rns in practice and virtually nothing in preseason games.

It would be nice for them to know that they can trust the veteran who had a strong first two years in his career.

8. Bottom feeders

OK, yes the bubble boys and bottom feeders of the roster do need to be looked at even though too many Bears fans on social media attach too much importance to the 50-53rd spots on the roster. These guys are normally not helping much and if they are then you've already got big problems. But they do need to figure out things with them in case they need to lean on depth.

They also need to find out some things about the backups who will be on the roster. It would be good if Kiran Amegadjie and/or Theo Benedet can do something besides play tackle.

This is assuming Benedet winds up as backup left tackle. Maybe they give one of those players reps as a guard just to know they are capable if pressed into a bad situation on game day.

9. Stay healthy

There are already too many injured players.