Morning Box Score: Bears Beat Browns

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Sep 4, 2009 3:00PM

At Soldier Field on Thursday night, men in Chicago Bears uniforms beat men in Cleveland Browns uniforms 26-23 in the teams' fourth and final preseason game. Those who had any impact on this game were different from those who will likely do so once the games count as the coaching staff tried to sort out the final few roster spots and keep the starters healthy.

Did Bears star QB Jay Cutler even officially play if he didn't show up in the box score? Cutler took the field for one possession, handed the ball off six times and called it a night. Matt Forte, Devin Hester and Greg Olsen didn't even see the field. The Bears starting defense, which planned to play one series, took the field for all of one snap before a Zack Bowman interception ended their night.

For the Bears' backups, both Caleb Hanie and Brett Basanez looked good with Hanie completing 9 of 13 passes and Basanez 10 of 13. Each threw a TD pass as well, although Hanie had the night's lone interception. But will either even see the field once the season starts? In their pro careers, neither ones has yet. Rookie wide receivers Juaquin Iglesias and Johnny Knox were their favorite targets, combining for 7 receptions and 134 yards. Of the three wideouts competing for the other roster spots, only Brandon Rideau caught a pass. The biggest story coming out of last night's game, however, was the left ankle injury suffered by number two running back Kevin Jones. Adrian Peterson may live to see another day on the Bears roster as a result.

As we watched only in passing as the teams went through the motions, we wondered, "who actually pays full ticket price to watch this?" If the teams aren't going to play their stars and starters, why should fans have to pay top dollar to attend these scrimmages? It's not even like there are the Honey Bears to watch anymore.