The Chicago Bears and Houston Texans open the 2024 National Football League preseason this Thursday when they square off in the annual Hall of Fame Game from Canton, Ohio. Both teams have former players involved in the festivities as the newest members of the Hall of Fame.
The 2024 list of inductees include seven former NFL greats. They are Patrick Willis, Dwight Freeney, Devin Hester, Andre Johnson, Julius Peppers, Randy Gradishar and Steve McMichale. Johnson was one of the best receivers ever and played the majority of his career with the Texans. McMichael and Hester were both members of Chicago Bears squads that advanced to the Super Bowl.
McMichael was a dominant defensive presence in the Bears Super Bowl XX winning team, and Hester returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown in Super Bowl XLI against the Indianapolis Colts. In that game, Peyton Manning led the Indianapolis Colts to a come-from-behind win in his only Super Bowl victory with Indianapolis.
When the action moves from the stage to the field, we find a couple teams looking to enrich their prospects with young quarterbacks leading the way. Houston Head Coach DeMeco Ryans led the Texans from the cellar to the playoffs last year in his first season at the helm. That success, in great part, was attributed to the spectacular play of their rookie quarterback, second overall 2023 draft selection, C.J. Stroud.
The Bears are looking for magic from a rookie signal caller this season when they count on first overall draft selection Caleb Williams to direct their offense. Bears Head Coach Matt Eberflus has said his task this preseason is to balance getting Williams ready for NFL action and not subjecting him to undue risk for injury in “meaningless” preseason contests.
Of course, that is the goal of all 32 NFL head coaches, avoiding injuries to key players in the preseason. But, particularly for a rookie that you are counting on when the bell rings for the start of the regular season, getting them playing time in August is essential. Veterans can watch from the sidelines in August with confidence they will be ready for the regular season. But a rookie, who is working with new teammates in a league that is significantly more talented than the competition they faced in their college careers, needs work to get ready for the NFL regular season.
So, if you are one of the people tuning in to see two of the projected stars at quarterback compete on Thursday night, namely Stroud and Williams, tune in early. These stars will be more like comets than planets, appearing for a brief moment, if at all, before they are gone for the night.
Which brings us to the edge in this game. While Ryans has no doubt of his second-year quarterback credentials to compete in this league on his team, Eberflus is dealing from the dark. The Bears ongoing search for a franchise quarterback has taken a lot more missteps than hits since Jim McMahon led them to a Super Bowl win almost four decades ago.
Eberflus will only play his top draft pick when the Bears first string offensive line is on the field. Fortunately, during the opening week of work, the Bears front five has looked good and is free of injuries. Williams is likely going to see some early action in this game, but the contest will more likely be decided while Tyson Bagent, Austin Reed or Brett Rypien is running Chicago’s offense.
For the Texans, whether Stroud will see any action at all is less likely, and the bulk of work behind center for Houston will be done by Tim Boyle, Case Keenum and Davis Mills.
With that as a setup for the game, you can see why many think preseason games are not available to wager on with any confidence.
I strongly disagree, and the fact that the books set lines on the preseason games is a clear indicator that they are often predictable. Yet, success in the preseason is not necessarily tied to the talent on the field, but more importantly to the objective of the coaches. In Houston, you can be sure the Texans come into this season just a little more confident that their talent actually warrants. And the Bears, well they have been struggling for so long that even a meaningless preseason win is something they are more likely to pursue.
Why else would the books have opened with Chicago the favorite in this game?
Qoxhi Picks: Chicago Bears (-1) over Houston Texans