Starters will play
Coach Ben Johnson told Kay Adams of the "Up & Adams Show" that Bears starters will play in Friday night's preseason finale against the Chiefs in Kansas City.
"We'll see how long it is," Johnson said. "We're going to get through a couple days here of practice and we'll determine for how long, but we need to go through this."
The Chiefs are also planning to play their starters.
Making strides
Theo Benedet was a late entrant into the competition for the starting left tackle position, but the first-year pro is making up for lost time.
Last Friday, coach Ben Johnson lauded Benedet two days after the 6-7, 304-pounder had taken first-team reps at the position for the first time.
Benedet signed with the Bears last year as an undrafted free agent from the University of British Columbia, where he became the first offensive lineman to win back-to-back J.P. Metras Trophies as Canada's best down lineman.
Last summer Benedet injured his hamstring in the Hall of Fame Game and eventually landed on the Bears practice squad. A year later, he's challenging for a starting job at a key position.
Asked where he's seen the most growth, Benedet said: "I would say definitely in my ability to be dominant in the run game, open up holes. That's obviously a way for O-linemen to flash in practice, if you can open a hole and spring a big run."
Benedet credits offensive line coach Dan Roushar, among others, with helping him sharpen his fundamentals.
"Coach Roushar and the whole coaching staff have done a good job helping me with my footwork in the run game," Benedet said. "That's allowed me to get into powerful positions. In pass pro, I'm still working on all these aspects, but posture has improved, landmarks with my hands, that sort of stuff.
"Coach Roushar really understood, in the run game especially, that my footwork was probably too long, those kinds of things that were really detracting from my power positions when I hit the block. He's understood at tackle how some things may look a little different for me, just given what I'm good at, what I'm not so good at, and just understanding how to coach through those to get back to the fundamentals that apply to everybody."
Stepping up
After the Bears' preseason opener against the Dolphins, coaches challenged rookie linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II to be more of a factor on special teams.
The fourth-round pick from Maryland accomplished that objective Sunday night versus the Bills, recording a team-high two special teams tackles.
"I came out last game and put my work in on that and improved in that area," Hyppolite said. "Just made more plays, just more of a factor, just being more physical, setting the tone, being around the ball more. I felt like I underperformed when we played Miami, so I wanted to come out against Buffalo and change that, so I feel I did that."