A look at Thursday night's Bears and Houston Texans Hall of Fame Game battle in Canton, Ohio with TV and ratio information and the latest betting lines.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus is 10-24 in his third season and 1-0 against the Texans in the regular season. Texans coach DeMeco Ryans is 10-7 in his second season and has not faced the Bears in the regular season.
The opening preseason game played at the Pro Football Hall of Fame's stadium pits last year's AFC playoff surprise, the Texans, against the Bears. It's the first time the Bears have been featured in this game since 2018, when they lost 17-16 to the Baltimore Ravens in Lamar Jackson's first NFL appearance at QB. The game will be played against a backdrop of three former Bears and one Houston Texans player going into the Hall of Fame.
The new Bears offensive system will be on display under coordinator Shane Waldron, even if the players in it are not the starters. The offense, borrowed from Sean McVay and the Rams, stresses motion, zone blocking and is similar to their last offense under Luke Getsy in many respects, but uses different types of screens. It also stresses multiplicity and doesn't rely as heavily on the running game.
Also, this is the first NFL game using the new kickoff rule with both the kicking and receiving team lining up players within 10 yards of each other in the receiving team's territory and touchbacks going to the 30-yard line. Defensive back Reddy Steward and guard Bill Murray are two players Eberflus singled out for their performances in recent practices. Steward, from Troy, is the slot cornerback and replaced injured Kyler Gordon in practices. Bears punt and kick returners are important to watch in preseason as they can't really simulate this without full speed in camp. Velus Jones Jr., DeAndre Carter, Dante Pettis, Tyler Scott and Greg Stroman are players to watch in preseason on returns.
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