The Cincinnati Bengals play their second preseason game Saturday night against the Chicago Bears, but their most important work of the week may already be finished by kickoff.
Cincinnati hosts Chicago for a joint practice on Thursday, giving Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ starters an opportunity to work against unfamiliar competition in a setting that can provide considerably more situational work than a brief preseason appearance. The practice comes two days before the same teams meet at Paycor Stadium.
Saturday will be important for players fighting for jobs. Thursday could be much more important for figuring out whether the Bengals’ starters are actually ready for Week 1.
Joe Burrow can get more than 13 snaps without playing a full game
During Joe Burrow’s preseason opener, we saw him take 13 snaps, and he took contact on two of them. In a joint practice, however, things can go a lot differently.
The problem with real games, whether they are preseason or not, is the fact that you have to go with what the game gives you. We didn’t get to see Burrow operate in the red zone or work through a two-minute situation.
That’s what the joint practice can provide: opportunities to put Burrow in situations that may never develop naturally during a preseason game. Not to mention the reps that can come from it. If they run a blitz period and they find something that needs work, they can just run it again.
It’s all about having control. A preseason game gives Cincinnati whatever situations the game creates. A joint practice allows the Bengals to create the situations they actually want to evaluate.
Zac Taylor has previously explained why he values that type of controlled work.
"It's a good substitute when guys aren't playing in the games to get work in. It's not a game-like environment but we get to manage the situation, so I thought it was worthwhile."Zac Taylor
The Bears can provide Cincinnati something Detroit couldn’t
Detroit rested most of its established starters in the Bengals’ opener. Chicago also rested Caleb Williams and many of its top players against Cleveland last weekend.
That’s why Thursday can provide something Detroit couldn’t: extended starter-on-starter work.
This is good for two reasons: Burrow will get a chance to go against Chicago’s starting defense, and Cincinnati’s rebuilt defense against Caleb Williams and Chicago’s starting offense.
That creates a more meaningful evaluation than watching Burrow work against backup defensive backs or Cincinnati’s starting defensive front battle linemen who are fighting for roster spots.
Training camp tells Cincinnati how its starters compare with each other. Thursday begins telling the Bengals how their starters compare with somebody else’s.
Cincinnati’s revamped defensive line finally gets a different test
With the exception of their preseason game against Detroit, the Bengals' defense has been practicing every day against their own offensive line.
On Thursday, Dexter Lawrence, Jonathan Allen, Cashius Howell, and company finally see another scheme, another protection plan, and another quarterback rep after rep.
This comes at a time when Chicago currently has an interesting situation at left tackle. The Bears have continued rotating players there, with Braxton Jones returning to first-team work while other contenders have dealt with uneven play or injuries.
This will leave an opening for Cashius Howell to get more reps against a team that has seen him on film. He has already shown speed, power and counter moves, but can he create the same disruption against an opponent that now has film of those techniques? More importantly, how does he adjust when Chicago adjusts to him?
Caleb Williams could be exactly what the Bengals secondary needs
Williams didn’t play Chicago’s preseason opener, so the joint practice could provide Cincinnati’s secondary a valuable opportunity against him and the Bears’ top skill players.
Chicago has been seeing some encouraging signs from its offense during camp, including Williams directing productive two-minute work and developing chemistry with players such as Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III.
This is good because the Cincinnati secondary can practice against someone other than Burrow.
Burrow knows Cincinnati’s defense, and the defense knows Burrow; for weeks now, they have learned each other's tendencies. Williams brings an unfamiliarity to the situation, which can only help in the secondary’s development.
The Bengals don’t need their secondary to dominate Williams on Thursday. They need to see how quickly the group can communicate and adjust when the quarterback across from them hasn’t seen the same coverage calls for the last three weeks.
Things to keep an eye on will be how well the secondary communicates, how they handle motion, red-zone coverage, and third-down situations.
Thursday could tell us more about the offensive line than Saturday
We saw in the preseason opener that the protection wasn’t as clean as Cincinnati would have wanted against Detroit’s backup defensive front.
Orlando Brown Jr. had issues getting beaten on the outside, causing Burrow to get hit when he threw. Burrow was sacked once after holding the football while the play developed, and the protection allowed additional pressure. Overall, an average performance at best.
Now, they get another test, rather than getting judged by one sack or one pressure; a joint practice lets you watch repeated matchups.
There is a lot to look for during this practice: how does the interior protection hold up, how good are the blitz pickups, how does Orlando Brown Jr. hold up on the outside one-on-one with Chicago starters?
This will allow the Bengals to see running-game movement, communication for protection changes, and how they adjust when there are breakdowns.
The biggest question will be whether what we saw against Detroit holds up against Chicago’s starters.
Saturday still matters – just for different Bengals
While the starters will be able to get their work in on Thursday during the joint practice. Saturday will still be important for players like Colbie Young, Dohnte Meyers, and Jack Endries, who need meaningful game reps to strengthen their cases for larger roles.
For players like D.J. Ivey, Josh Newton, and the backup offensive lineman, as well as the players at the bottom of the depth chart, it is important for them to get out there and prove what they can do.
Joint practices aren’t without risk, something Cincinnati knows particularly well. In the 2024 season, the last time the Bengals and Bears had a joint practice, Cincinnati lost running back Chris Evans and offensive tackle D’Ante Smith to season-ending injuries.
Saturday night will produce a score, stats, and plenty of tape for players trying to survive roster cuts. Thursday won’t produce any of those things.
It may still tell Cincinnati more about the players who will determine how far this team goes.
Burrow gets another defense. Cincinnati’s offensive line gets another pass rush. The revamped defense gets Caleb Williams and Chicago’s starting offense. And the coaching staff gets to put its starters into the situations it wants to evaluate rather than waiting for a preseason game to create them.
Saturday will help the Bengals build their 53-man roster. Thursday may tell them how good the top of it really is.
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