EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Resting all of their starters, the Bears dropped their second preseason game 32–13 to the New York Giants Friday night at MetLife Stadium.
The Giants took a 7-0 lead on Eli Manning's 8-yard touchdown pass to receiver Bennie Fowler on the game's opening possession. New York's No. 1 offense marched 79 yards on 10 plays with relative ease against the Bears' No. 2 defense.
Fowler caught Manning's pass over the middle on third-and-five and slipped away from Bears cornerback Duke Shelley at the 4 en route to the end zone.
The Bears responded, drawing to within 7-3 on Eddy Pineiro's 41-yard field goal. The 11-play, 55-yard drive was highlighted by Ryan Nall gains of 10 yards on a screen pass and 14 yards on a run on back-to-back plays. The Bears settled for the field goal after Chase Daniel overthrew Taquan Mizzell Sr. down the right sideline.
Manning was replaced by rookie first-round pick Daniel Jones after the Giants' opening possession, having completed 4-of-4 passes for 42 yards and a touchdown.
Jones completed a 40-yard pass to receiver Cody Latimer, who beat cornerback Michael Joseph down the left sideline. But on the next play, Jones fumbled as he turned to hand off and defensive end Jonathan Bullard recovered the ball at the Bears' 24.
Midway through the second quarter, linebacker James Vaughters put the Bears in position to take the lead with an impressive individual effort. The first-year pro beat a double-team block, swatted the ball away from Jones, scooped it up and returned it eight yards' to the Giants' 12.
But after two sacks of Daniel on three plays—the second of which came on third down and resulted in a 12-yard loss— Elliott Fry missed a 47-yard field-goal attempt wide left.
The Giants followed by scoring 12 points in a 2:29 span late in the first half. First, Pro Bowl kicker drilled a 47-yard field goal, hitting from the same distance that Fry missed from.
Two plays later from the Bears' 16, Daniel allowed a decent shotgun snap to squirt through his hands and roll out of the end zone for a safety, widening the margin to 12-3 with 2:59 remaining in the first half.
The Giants made it 19-3 on Jones' 15-yard touchdown pass to receiver T.J. Jones, who beat cornerback John Franklin III in the left corner of the end zone with 1:14 to play.
Bears rookie Kerrith Whyte Jr. returned the ensuing kickoff 103 yards for an apparent touchdown. But the play was nullified by a holding penalty.
The Bears closed the gap to 19-6 on Pineiro's 27-yard field goal as time expired in the first half. The kick came after Daniel's 29-yard completion to Javon Wims to the 9. With no timeouts remaining, the Bears raced to the line and Daniel spiked the ball to kill the clock with :01 left.
Daniel completed 12 of 18 passes for 103 yards and an 81.5 passer rating in the first half before being replaced by Tyler Bray to start the third quarter.
The Bears eventually closed the gap to 19-13 on Whyte's 1-yard touchdown run with 2:14 left in the third quarter. The TD was set up by rookie cornerback Clifton Duck's 62-yard interception return to the Giants' 37.
New York had first-and-goal at the Bears' 1 when Duck dove to intercept an Alex Tanney pass, scrambled to his feet and raced the other direction.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Jon Hilliman burst up the middle for a 10-yard touchdown run, increasing the Giants' lead to 25-13.
New York later made it 32-13 on quarterback Kyle Lauletta's 10-yard touchdown pass to tight end Garrett Dickerson.
The Bears held most of their key players—including all 22 starters—out of Friday night's game. Those who didn't play on offense included quarterback Mitchell Trubisky; running backs Tarik Cohen and David Montgomery; receivers Allen Robinson II, Taylor Gabriel and Cordarrelle Patterson; tight ends Trey Burton and Adam Shaheen; and the entire starting line, which is comprised of left tackle Charles Leno Jr., left guard Cody Whitehair, center James Daniels, right guard Kyle Long and right tackle Bobby Massie.
All 11 defensive starters were held out of the game as well: Tackle Akiem Hicks, nose tackle Eddie Goldman and end Bilal Nichols; outside linebackers Khalil Mack and Leonard Floyd; inside linebackers Danny Trevathan and Roquan Smith; cornerbacks Kyle Fuller and Prince Amukamara; and safeties Eddie Jackson and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. Nickel back Buster Skrine also did not play.
