Preseason game or not, the Buffalo Bills had a performance that fans will want to lose memory of as quickly as possible. After finishing up their training camp this past week, it was game time for the Bills as they were going up against the Chicago Bears. The anticipation that was being built up for Bills Mafia turned out to be a huge letdown. Not only did the Bills fail to get into the endzone, but they just looked completely lost on offense.
Going into halftime, the Bears were leading 6-3 and the Bills still had a chance to clean up their act. However, things only got worse on offense. On Buffalo’s first drive, they went three-and-out very quickly. Then on their second drive, they drove down the field for an 18-play drive only to let it end in a field goal. Tyler Bass would end up getting the Bills on the board twice in the second and third quarter.
Overall, the Bills’ offense was a complete mess with 200 total yards. As Buffalo looks to clean up the mess that was created, offensive coordinator Joe Brady will have a lot of work to do before next week’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. With that, we take a look at what the Buffalo offense needs to immediately fix for the rest of the preseason.
Pass protection
No matter how great a play can develop for a pass, it doesn’t matter if the protection upfront isn’t stable. The offensive line gave up eight sacks on the day to the Bears. Mitch Trubisky was sacked twice for six yards and Shane Buechele was sacked six times for 28 yards. The lack of pass protection puts a play to an end before it even starts. To put into perspective, running backs Ray Davis and Frank Gore Jr. were the most targeted weapons in the pass game (each with four targets). Part of the problem as to why the true receivers weren’t getting targets was because of the pass rush.
Chicago has a decent defensive line and it showed today. Now Brady must prepare for the Steelers’ defensive line which is way better against the pass.
Establishing the run game
It’s pretty sad when the third string quarterback was the rushing leader for the Bills. Buechele rushed for 22 yards off of three carries. Overall, the Bills rushed the ball 26 times (with four carries being from Buechele and Josh Allen). Gore Jr. was the leader in carries (7) and had 21 rushing yards. When you compare the passing stats with the rushing stats, the Bills decided to make the pass their first direction and it just was not working. If the pass attack can’t get going, then the run game becomes useless.
Brady needs to make the run-game a priority from here on out to see what he has to work with once the regular season rolls around.
Third-down efficiency
There is never a time when a team won’t face a third down situation. Whether it is 3rd-and-5 or 3rd-and-15, each team has to do whatever they can to move the chains and avoid punting the ball. The Bills’ offense was not reliable on third down against the Bears, in which they went 6/17 and converted just 35% on third downs.
Backups or not, the Bills were horrendous on third down. The Bills are going to need to improve on their efficiency in crucial moments so that they can keep the ball in their hands.