Fans shouldn't read much into a preseason game. NFL coaches, though, draw many lessons from a blowout loss.
After Sunday's 38-0 loss in Chicago, Bills coach Sean McDermott voiced disappointment in his players' effort and performance, even though most starters sat.
"Certainly not up to our standard, what we expect," McDermott said, via the team's website. "Got a lot of work to do. That's very clear. Doesn't matter who's out there, ones, twos, threes, fours, whoever it is, we expect them to perform and we expect our level of performance to be much better than that."
Josh Allen and the rest of the Bills starters sat while the backups were walked over by Caleb Williams and the Bears' first-team unit early. Buffalo's second- and third-team units continued to struggle when Chicago went to its backups.
"So, just break it down, line of scrimmage, we didn't win the line of scrimmage, fundamentally we weren't good enough, too many penalties," he said. "Get out there and playing against their ones, I expect -- we expect -- to compete with them. And that wasn't the case early. And then our twos, then who were out there against their twos, and our threes against their threes, it didn't get much better. So we've got to look at it, figure some things out and evaluate some of the guys as well and see where we stand there. A lot of work to get done this week as we move forward."
We aren't overreacting to Sunday's loss, especially with most of the regulars on the sideline. Still, McDermott is within his rights to highlight the missed plays, particularly from some young players they'd hoped could grow into key roles this season. When backups struggle in the preseason, it's a cause for concern from a depth perspective.
"I'm concerned about a lot of things coming off tonight," McDermott said. "When you lose the way we did, it's probably a little bit of everything."
There's no need to panic in Buffalo, and by December, this loss will be long forgotten. However, the coaching staff will always use these performances to evaluate and motivate players heading into games that do matter.
