Bear Necessities: Weighing the risk and reward of playing starters in preseason finale

The Bears are playing their starters for the first half of Saturday’s preseason finale, which presents both benefits and injury risks.

This is our online morning newsletter, Bear Necessities. Subscribe to get the latest Bears news delivered to your mailbox every day.

Saturday’s preseason finale will have increased significance as the Bears are expected to play a good number of starters for the first half against the Browns.

Typically, the expectation is that starters rest in the preseason finale as bubble players compete for a valuable roster spot. But this is a Bears team transitioning to a new regime and mostly new roster under head coach Matt Eberflus.

Last week, Eberflus and his staff were weighing their options for the finale, and they ultimately came to the decision that the starters needed some more reps. Even if they won’t necessarily be going against Cleveland’s starters.

Let’s start with the obvious — there’s a benefit to playing the starters for an entire half, especially when it comes to simulating a game week experience. Quarterback Justin Fields and the offense will get another opportunity to build from their previous two limited outings before facing off against a talented 49ers defense in Week 1.

Quite frankly, Chicago’s starting offense needs it. They’ve only played 27 snaps during two preseason games, and they still have plenty of work to do ahead of the Week 1 opener.

While the defense has had a couple of games to play in the new 4-3 scheme, linebacker Roquan Smith missed the first two preseason games — and most of training camp — amid a contract “hold-in.” With that over, Smith will play in Saturday’s preseason finale, where he’ll see his first live action at weak-side linebacker.

You’ve got to respect how Eberflus has approached his preparation, even during the preseason, which is the antithesis of Matt Nagy. He recognizes the importance of simulating that game week and getting starters reps.

But, at the same time, there’s always an injury risk when it comes to playing your starters during the preseason. Heck, anytime they step on the field there’s a risk. But considering teams are running vanilla schemes, it’s not always worth the risk.

The good news is it sounds like the Browns will be playing their starters — although there hasn’t been confirmation yet. Which will help both competition wise and avoiding players battling for a roster spot going hard trying to prove themselves.

With that in mind, the best we can do is enjoy what just became a more important preseason finale and hope for an injury-clean game.