The Chicago Bears are using Saturday’s preseason finale against the Buffalo Bills as an opportunity for their starters to get some work in. Head coach Matt Eberflus met with reporters on Thursday afternoon and confirmed the starters on offense and defense who are healthy will play on Saturday. The coach did not give a definitive answer for how long they will play, but will see a “selected number of plays” before being pulled.
Matt Eberflus says their starters are going to play "a selected number of plays" against the Bills in their preseason finale Saturday. So that includes Justin Fields.@cbschicago
— Matt Zahn (@mattzahnsports) August 24, 2023
Last year, Eberflus and the Bears coaching staff played the starters for the entire first half of their preseason finale against the Cleveland Browns, including Justin Fields. Eberflus wouldn’t confirm if that would be the case again, but it will be a good opportunity for the starters to get one final tune-up before the regular season begins.
Fields and the starting offense only played seven snaps in the team’s first preseason game against the Tennessee Titans, while the defense saw 12 snaps on just one drive. The vast majority of the starters sat out last weekend’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, primarily due to the joint practices the two teams had a few days prior.
While it remains to be seen how long the starters play, fans will be excited to see them get some run before the backups take over. From there, it will only be two weeks until the regular season officially begins against the Green Bay Packers.
The Bears and Bills kick off from Soldier Field at noon CT.