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The Bears beat Cleveland 34-10 on Saturday, so there is no shortage of easy material. Case Keenum was nearly perfect. Beanie Bishop Jr. intercepted two passes. Jamree Kromah spent much of the afternoon introducing himself to Browns quarterbacks. The most interesting number in the box score is not attached to any of them. Cleveland’s 108 rushing yards deserve an asterisk Cleveland averaged four yards per carry against Chicago. That sounds acceptable, particularly against a defense that rested most of its established starters. It also tells a lousy version of what happened. Davon Booth gained 53 yards on four carries, including a 28-yard run. The rest of Cleveland’s team combined for 55 yards on 23 attempts. That comes to 2.4 yards per carry. Basically, Booth found a few openings. Everyone else found Bears. Quinshon Judkins carried four times for nine yards. Dylan Sampson had six yards on four attempts. Ahmani Marshall received six carries and turned them into four yards. Cleveland also tried running with each of its three quarterbacks, but that group combined for only 13 yards. That is an encouraging afternoon for a Chicago defensive front filled with backups and players fighting for the last few roster spots. The Bears gave up an occasional chunk play, yet Cleveland could not line up and consistently move them. Kromah was the face of that effort. He finished with two sacks, three tackles for loss, a forced fumble and the recovery. Strip away the splash plays, though, and Chicago’s entire defensive front held up well. Cleveland kept handing off the ball. Chicago kept ruining the idea. The preseason comes with the usual warning label. Opposing starters leave early, game plans are plain and coaches occasionally seem more interested in testing a player than winning a possession. Even so, controlling the line with reserve defenders is better than watching those defenders get pushed into Lake Michigan. The Bears did not return the favor Chicago’s rushing performance was far less encouraging. The Bears gained 82 yards on 21 carries, an average of 3.9 yards. That number receives its own box-score makeover thanks to a 19-yard run from Roschon Johnson and a 12-yard carry by Salvon Ahmed. Remove those two runs and Chicago gained 51 yards on its other 19 attempts. That is 2.7 yards per carry. Brittain Brown managed eight yards on five attempts. Coleman Bennett scored late, but his four carries produced 10 yards. Chicago won because its quarterbacks threw for 348 net yards and the defense created three turnovers. The running game mostly came along for the ride and enjoyed the view. There is no reason to sound an alarm after one August game without most of the starting offense. Still, the backs competing for jobs did not receive much assistance, and none of them forced Chicago to reconsider the depth chart. The final score made Saturday look like a complete performance. It was not. The Bears’ reserve run defense deserves far more credit than the raw totals provide. Their rushing offense deserves a much closer look next week. One side controlled the dirty work. The other side hid behind 34 points. | More Bears on DaWindyCity |