The Chicago Bears have decided to rest their starters, including quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, against the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday.
If the Kansas City Chiefs were hoping that iron sharpens iron on Saturday as their starters prepare for the regular season, they’re going to be slightly frustrated with the notion that the Chicago Bears are planning for the complete opposite.
The Bears put out a statement that head coach Matt Nagy has decided to rest his starters for the team’s next preseason game against the visiting Chiefs on Saturday, resting even starting quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. This came after the Chiefs already announced they were planning on playing their own starters for three quarters of the game.
This game was originally supposed to be a showdown between an experienced head coach and his protege with Andy Reid facing off against Nagy. Now it appears it should be a lopsided affair with the Chiefs best going against Bears players simply hoping to make the final roster. It also puts the Chiefs in an odd predicament: if they play well, it came against back-ups. If they do not play well, then it looks even worse. It’s essentially a “get out of jail free” card for the Bears, so to speak.
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As for the Bears, it’s unlikely that Nagy cares at all how it makes the Chiefs look or how it even affects them in the slightest. The Bears have had a very busy preseason due to playing early in the Hall of Fame game. They’ve held more practices this preseason already than any other team, so the Bears are at least ensuring they’ll stay healthy for another day as they prepare for the regular season.
That said, it will be interesting to see how game-ready Trubisky and company look in Week 1. If they appear rusty or sluggish, this will reflect poorly on Nagy who will look like a rookie head coach who didn’t know how to best utilize his preseason schedule.
As for Saturday, the Chiefs need to look sharper than ever if they want to avoid serious questions for the next several days about their performance against backups.