The Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears square off Saturday night in the final tune-up before the 2022 regular season. While the last preseason game used to feature very few key players, the NFL has started to transition since the preseason was cut to three games.
The Browns have held out most of the important players in its first two games against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Philadelphia Eagles. The Jaguars played many of their starters for a couple of series while the Eagles, after joint practices in Berea, played very few players that will see the field in Week 1.
Week 3 is expected to be different. While HC Kevin Stefanski hasn’t announced his plan specifically, he and the coaches “just started talking” about it.
The Bears have already made their decision and announced it:
Roquan Smith is expected to play vs the Browns as well, per Eberflus.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) August 23, 2022
While Chicago has just started its rebuild under a new regime, Cleveland could get a look at a level of competition that they have only faced briefly so far in preseason. It is likely that Stefanski and the coaches will play as many players as possible Saturday as long as there is no lingering injury concerns.
Last season, the Browns trounced the Bears 26-6 in Week 3 behind a dominant performance from DE Myles Garrett with 4.5 sacks.
