By John Rigolizzo
Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott had some harsh words for his team after a shutout loss to the Chicago Bears.
The Bills did not play their starters in the second preseason game Sunday, but it did not matter as the offense failed to get anything going and the defense struggled mightily in a 38-0 rout.
At a press conference after the game, McDermott said his team’s performance was beneath his expectations.
“It was certainly not up to our standard, what we expect,” McDermott said.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do. That’s very clear. It doesn’t matter who’s out there: ones, twos, threes, fours, whoever it is, we expect them to perform and we expect our level of performance to be much better than that.”
The Bills totaled just 197 yards of offense for the game. Mike White, who started the game at quarterback, went just 4-of-11 for 54 yards; Mitchell Trubisky was 7- of-13 for 55 yards; Shane Buchele was 1-of-4 for just 11 yards. On the ground, running back Frank Gore Jr. led the way with eight carries for 51 yards; wide receivers K.J. Hamler and Deon Cain each carried the ball one time for 15 and 6 yards, respectively; and rotational back Ray Davis had three carries for 5 yards.
The Bills notably rested their starters for this game. McDermott said he felt the first unit got enough good work in during joint practices, and it was more important to keep the starters healthy while evaluating the depth of their roster.
“I thought we had some momentum coming off that practice, which I thought was a good practice for us,” he said. “Tonight, however, not even close.”
The Bears did not rest their starters, and the first offense lit up the field on its first possession. On the first play, quarterback Caleb Williams ran a play-action bootleg to his right and completed a pass to rookie tight end Colston Loveland for an 8-yard gain.
During the next play, Williams hit tight end Cole Kmet over the middle for a big gain. In the following play, he hit D.J. Moore on a short pass; Moore fought for an extra yard or two while being wrapped up by a defender. After an offensive penalty, Williams hit Loveland again for another first down. A few plays later, Williams threw a strike to wide receiver Olamide Zacchaeus, who cut behind two Bills defenders for a touchdown.
McDermott said he expected more from his reserves against the young Bears.
“We get out there, playing against their ones, I expect, we expect, to compete with them, and that wasn’t the case early,”
McDermott lamented. “And then our twos then, who were out there competing against their twos, and our threes against their threes, it didn’t get much better. So, we’ve got to look at it, figure some things out, and evaluate some of the guys as well and see where we stand there. There’s a lot of work to get done this week as we move forward here.”
Chicago kept their foot on the gas all afternoon. Williams finished the day 6-of-10 for 107 yards and the TD to Zacchaeus; backup Tyson Bagent added 196 yards and another score on 13-of-22 passing. Third-stringer Austin Reed went 6-of-7 for 66 yards.
On the ground, second-year running back Ian Wheeler had an impressive showing, carrying the ball 19 times for 80 yards and two scores. Brittain Brown added 16 touches for 73 yards and another TD. Third-year pro Tyler Scott was the leading receiver, with three catches for 54 yards and the touchdown from Bagent.
McDermott pointed out that the offensive line struggled in pass protection, while the defense could not get a productive pass rush; a reporter pointed out that tackling also appeared to be an issue. McDermott responded that the team will emphasize the fundamentals going forward.
“It can’t all be about scheme and this and that,” he said. “It’s about who can go out and win the one-on-ones, who’s going to tackle, who’s going to get off blocks. That’s where the game starts, really.”
