ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Here are my five takes from the Buffalo Bills’ 33-6 preseason-opening loss against the Chicago Bears on Saturday at Highmark Stadium:
1. The best that could be said about the decision to start Josh Allen is that he wasn’t injured.
Beyond that, and with the disclaimer that the Bills did the vanilla game-planning that all NFL teams do in the preseason, there wasn’t a whole lot to say about his one-quarter appearance that covered two drives. He completed 2 of 3 passes for 22 yards. His best play was a 15-yard connection with Curtis Samuel on a slip screen.
Allen also had a seven-yard scramble for a first down that ended with an awkward-looking slide, during which he bent both knees as he hit the ground. The slide might have been enough to convince Sean McDermott to pull Allen from the game after the next play, a run by James Cook for a 1-yard loss, that ended the quarter. Though Allen lobbied on the sideline for more playing time, Mitch Trubisky took over for the rest of the series and remained in the game into the third quarter.
The Bills’ starting offense went three-and-out on its first series. The line was generally manhandled by the Bears’ defensive front.
2. Overall, it was a forgettable showing by pretty much everyone who wore a Bills uniform.
“Our standard was not out there today,” McDermott said. “That’s not how we play. So there’s a lot that we need to do to get ourselves ready to go here. … But you’ve got to learn from it.”
The Bills had 11 accepted penalties for minus-75 yards. That most were pre-snap infractions was especially upsetting to McDermott. And rightfully so. Those penalties reflect sloppiness and a general lack of concentration and focus.
“I think we have to be truthful about what we saw out there, and really, it started with, I felt like, beating ourselves quite a bit just with pre-snap penalties,” the coach said. “I think eight of the 11 maybe were some form of pre-snap. So, I mean, let’s just start there, right? Self-inflicted wounds are hard to overcome and then you’ve got to play an opponent on the other side.”
Allen felt more inclined to point to the fact there was no game plan in place.
“And it’s hard to play games where you don’t really game plan for teams,” the quarterback said. “You’re not really sure what they’re doing, you don’t have your best plays in. There’s a balance between running what we’ve been practicing, but not showing a whole lot to the world, too.”
3. Let’s talk about the Bills’ offensive line.
Though it was a brief snapshot, the starters on the unit were terrible. Their run-blocking, especially on interior runs, was virtually non-existent. Their pass protection was, at best, mediocre.
The blocking steadily deteriorated as backups entered the game.
When a reporter pointed out the Bills’ struggles running the ball, McDermott said, “Well, you said it. You know, there’s not much more to say other than we didn’t control the line of scrimmage from the jump. I mean, all the way down to one of the last series we had on offense, you know, trying to get a first down (on) third-and-1, fourth-and-1, whatever it was there, and can’t get a yard. … When we don’t control the line of scrimmage, it makes it hard to win.”
Nevertheless, Allen said he wasn’t concerned about the problems the Bills had in their running game.
“I mean, we only had three or four runs in (the game plan),” he said. “And, again, we didn’t game plan at all for what they were going to do on defense. (We were) just trying to try out some of the runs that we’ve been working on and practicing. I know we got a lot of different stunts, a lot of different things from pressures into those, so it’s all good work.”
4. The lone scare for the Bills happened on the game’s first play from scrimmage when defensive tackle Ed Oliver suffered a knee injury during a three-yard run by D’Andre Swift.
Oliver was later cleared to return, but the Bills decided to keep him out of the rest of the game. It was a reminder of the risks associated with playing starters during the preseason.
5. The Bills’ first-unit defense wasn’t any more impressive than the offense.
With No. 1 overall draft pick Caleb Williams making his rookie debut, the Bears took the opening drive 58 yards in eight plays on the way to a field goal. The lone bright spot was Rasul Douglas stuffing Khalil Herbert for a three-yard loss on third-and-one to force the field-goal attempt.
Williams was solid, connecting on four of seven passes for 95 yards and running for13 yards in two series of action. The Bears drove 84 yards to another field goal on their second possession.
It helped that the Bills’ D put up mostly minimal resistance, thanks in large part by poor fundamentals displayed in tackling. Defenders were too often going high rather than wrapping up. That has nothing to do with vanilla strategy.