CHICAGO (WGN) — Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson set the tone early in the week that their starters were going to see action in preseason game No. 2. By night’s end, their first team through fourth string punched in and punched out the Buffalo Bills in dominating fashion Sunday at Soldier Field.
The Bears walked away with a 38-0 victory, thanks to exceptional performances on both offense and defense.
Caleb Williams and backup quarterback Tyson Bagent sliced their way through the Bills’ secondary. Andrew Billings and Austin Booker contributed key sacks that halted drives along the defensive line.
Here’s how the game broke down on each side of the ball.
The Offense
The first drive of the game went about as well as anyone affiliated with the Bears could have hoped for.
Chicago used seven plays to go 92 yards in a hair under four minutes. Williams completed passes of 6, 8, 18, 29 and 36 yards on the drive, the longest of which was the scoring strike to Olamide Zaccheaus at the 11:01 mark in the first quarter.
“It’s been great. That’s my guy on and off the field,” Williams said of Zaccheaus after the game.
Williams attributed being able to go the extra mile in building their quarterback-wide receiver relationship as the reason why they were able to stand out on the field Sunday.
“I think on-the-field wise … being able to get extra reps with him. Even if it’s not physical reps, it’s mental reps of him and I just having open communication that I’ve talked about before with the wide receivers [on] where I expect him to be, how he runs this and all of that,” Williams said. “I think it shows.”
What was even more encouraging on their first drive was that an offensive holding penalty on center Drew Dalman didn’t derail their momentum. The next play on 2nd-and-14, Williams hit Colston Loveland for an 18-yard completion and a brand new set of downs.
Williams finished his night with a stat line of 6-for-10 for 107 yards and one TD pass.
“He’s really been locked in. Anytime you’re a young player, there’s usually a couple of steps forward and one step back. And that’s really been the story of this training camp,” Johnson said postgame. “He and I have been really open and honest about it as we’ve gone through. And he’s had some really good practices, and he’s had a couple where, it’s not good enough.
“I thought really the three days of practice we had this week and this game were the most he’s stacked up good days in a row right now. The challenge is going to be keep pushing that direction.”
The second-team offense, fueled by Bagent, Brittain Brown and Luther Burden III, continued to pour it on.
Bagent completed 3 of 4 passes for 48 yards on their third offensive drive, and Brown carried the rock seven times for 39 yards and a TD run from one yard out to move the score to 14-0.
One possession later, Bagent found Burden to convert a key 3rd-and-6 before delivering an 11-yard strike to Tyler Scott for the Bears’ second TD pass of the day.
When his night came to a close, Bagent had completed 13 of his 22 passes for 196 yards and one TD pass of his own.
Ian Wheeler added to the offensive fireworks next for Chicago.
The former undrafted free agent out of Howard scored from one yard out on 4th-and-goal, widening the deficit to 28-0 in favor of the Bears with 1:50 to go in the first half.
The second half was a much tamer experience compared to the first, though Chicago’s third and fourth-string lineups still added to the scoreboard.
Cairo Santos added a 40-yard field goal midway through the third quarter, while Wheeler added a second TD run to his stat line with just under ten minutes to go in the fourth.
Bears quarterbacks combined to go 25-for-39 with 369 yards passing and 2 TD passes, while their running backs tallied 43 carries for 171 yards rushing and 3 TD runs. Wheeler accounted for 19 carries, 80 yards and two of those TD runs.
Five different receivers—Burden, Scott, Samori Toure, Joel Wilson and Zaccheaus—notched at least 35 yards receiving a piece.
The Defense
Andrew Billings and Austin Booker provided big plays from the defensive line in the first half.
Billings forced a Buffalo punt after he notched a sack on 3rd-and-9 a little more than two minutes into the second quarter. Then Booker followed suit on the Bills’ very next drive.
The former fifth-round pick out of Kansas State sacked Buffalo quarterback Mike White on 3rd-and-5 for an 11-yard loss that forced another Bills punt.
In total, the Bears’ defense held Buffalo to 47 total yards and three first downs on 18 plays over the entirety of the first half.
By games end, Amen Ogbongbemiga added a peanut punch-style forced fumble on Frank Gore Jr., and the defense held strong, completing a four-quarter shutout. Chicago held the Bills to just 180 total yards of offense and 12 first downs.
“The entire defense set the tone there in the first half and did an outstanding job for us,” Johnson said. “We’ll get a little more clarity once we watch the tape in terms of who stood out the most, but I think there were a number of really, really good performances there tonight.”
Ogbongbemiga led the defense with 4 tackles, while Billings and Booker registered the team’s 2 sacks.
Injury Report
The only bad news for the Bears Sunday came on the injury report.
Johnson said return man Devin Duvernay “wasn’t feeling himself a little bit before the game started,” so he was held out of the contest.
Corner Terell Smith, who is competing for the team’s No. 2 CB spot, was carted off the field with a lower leg injury. He appeared emotional, with a towel over his face as he was carted off the field.
Booker also spent time in the injury tent before heading back to the locker room and was ruled out with a knee injury of his own. Fellow defensive lineman Dominique Robinson left the game with an undisclosed injury.
Wide receiver J.P. Richardson also injured his ankle and was listed as doubtful late in the second half.
Johnson said they would have more details on injuries tomorrow.
Up Next
The Bears’ final preseason game of 2025 is next Friday, Aug. 22 against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Kickoff is planned for 7:20 p.m. CT.