Earlier this week, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor announced that the starters wouldn't be playing in the team's second preseason contest of 2024 against the Bears in Chicago on Saturday. Cincinnati's starters played limited minutes in their 17-14 preseason-opening loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last weekend.
Bears starters expected to play against Cincinnati
The Bears waited a little longer to officially reveal the status of their starters, but the results are in. As it turns out, Chicago doesn't plan to follow in Cincinnati's footsteps. Bears coach Matt Eberflus revealed that Chicago's starters will indeed play in the game against the Bengals, citing a desire to continue to build momentum. It's been a promising preseason for Chicago so far. The Bears have already played in two exhibitions this year, and they were victorious in both of them.
"We feel really good about our plan and the process that we've been through so far in training camp, and you will see the starters in that game," Eberflus said of the decision. "I talked about competitive reps the other day and I feel like we've gotten a lot of good competitive reps — 1s on 1s, a lot of good situations."
It remains to be seen how much Chicago's starters will actually play in the game, but they'll be out there for some period of time at least. That includes the No. 1 overall pick from the 2024 NFL Draft, Caleb Williams.
This preseason game will be Cincinnati's first look at the top pick from this year's draft. It will also be their only look this year -- unless they ultimately meet each other in the Super Bowl -- as the teams aren't scheduled to play against each other in the regular season.
As a result, this game will be an excellent opportunity for Bengals fans, who might not be watching too many Bears games this season otherwise, to get to watch the player who was dubbed as the overall best coming out of college.
The game will also provide some great experience for Cincinnati's depth on both sides of the ball, as second-stringers will be tasked with going up against Chicago's starters, for however long they're out there.