Revealing week ahead for Chicago Bears with Miami joint practice

It's a big week for the Bears even if it does end with a meaningless preseason game against the Miami Dolphins at Soldier Field.

Of course the winner and loser in a preseason game hold little significance.

Not only do preseason records count for nothing, but the success in those games doesn't necessarily reflect a team rising or sputtering.

After all, the Bears not only have been the offseason champions in the NFL for the past three seasons but they also are preseason stalwarts with an 8-2 record under Matt Eberflus for his three seasons.

We've seen what good that is.

In fact, they're 10-3 for preseasons since the pandemic wiped out the 2020 preseason.

Yet they have failed to finish .500 each of those four regular seasons.

These games do have meaning for coaches, even if the wins and losses mean nothing.

Especially with a team like the Bears, they're important.

A new coaching staff with both a new offense and a new defense have nothing really to gauge their progress against.

They've been facing the same team and same scheme since OTAs began in May.

They face the same opponentsreceiver vs.

DBs, defensive line vs.

offensive linemen.

It's been particularly rough on the offense, possibly because coordinator Dennis Allen's scheme is so aggressive.

"So, with him in particular, I think the defense has had the upper hand on the offense for the most part of camp," Johnson said.

"I think he's a guy that's not going to show any mercy.

He's keeping his foot on the pedal and wants to keep on installing and bringing the noise.

I appreciate that his mentality is rubbing off on our players, certainly on the defensive side." The problem with this is it puts undue pressure on an offense with its scheme still being installed.

Come Friday, they'll practice against the Dolphins at Halas Hall and then it will be against different players and different schemes.

They'll have a better gauge on where the offense is when they're not looking at an Allen blitz and man-to-man coverage all of the time.

Although they've had several full-contact sections of padded practices, full-contact during joint practice and in the first preseason game will provided more of a chance to see how physical the running backs can be.

Sunday's practice at Soldier Field did offer a partial look at this.

"I thought those guys were trying to play a physical brand of football all around," Johnson said.

Seeing how Roschon Johnson and Kyle Monangai run in live play when they can be tackled to the ground will provide more information.

The left tackle battle moves into another phase, as well.

It looks like a two-man battle now between Ozzy Trapilo and Braxton Jones with Kiran Amegadjie out injured.

It's during the week of the first preseason game when the team first releases an "unofficial" depth chart.

Why it's "unofficial," isn't really clear because no one other than the team itself has an official depth chart.

Once this comes out, it may better show how coaches view the left tackle battle, but more than likely they'll simply list all the combatants and not specify one over the other.

It's become a popular way to avoid revealing too much in recent years.

It's getting closer to real football season and the Bears need to see a team more ready to play a game than the penalty-plagued, inconsistent one they had Sunday at Soldier Field.

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