As the Bears close out the preseason against the Tennessee Titans, the list of players who need meaningful snaps is a lot shorter than the list of guys who can stay on the sideline.
There’s no real reason to risk the big names. Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze don’t need to be out there.
But for a handful of others, this final tune-up matters plenty. For some, it’s about settling a position battle.
For others, it’s about building momentum or simply staying in the conversation.
The most important spotlight sits at left tackle, where Theo Benedet and Braxton Jones still haven’t given the Bears the clean answer they were hoping for. Jones entered camp as the presumed winner for the job, but that hasn’t happened yet.
The preseason has only made the picture murkier. Against Tennessee, one of them needs to separate from the other and take real control of the spot.
That doesn’t make the decision final forever - second-year pro Ozzy Trapilo will eventually return after being activated off the PUP - but for now, Benedet and Jones both need to show more.
Dayo Odeyingbo is in a different kind of fight. After a season-ending injury last year, plenty of fans had already cooled on him before he even took a snap for Chicago on his 2025 free agent deal worth $48 million.
Then he flashed against the Bengals, and suddenly there’s at least a little optimism that he can be part of this pass rush. That kind of swing matters in a league built on “what have you done for me lately?”
If he can back up that performance against the Titans, it starts to look less like a one-off and more like a real step forward.
Rookie cornerback Malik Muhammad also deserves another look. He’s been trending in the right direction and appears to be the favorite for the starting nickel job while Kyler Gordon remains out with an injury.
Muhammad is still learning the position, after logging only a handful of slot snaps in college, but he’s in a good spot to keep growing with Dennis Allen guiding the secondary. He’s not someone the Bears should be resting yet, and this game should give him another chance to get comfortable and prove he belongs.
If the Titans play starting slot receiver Wan’Dale Robinson, that could make the test even sharper.
Marcus Davenport rounds out the group, and his situation is the simplest one of all: he has to play, and he has to show something. The newly signed defensive end sat out against Cincinnati, and if he wants any real chance at making the roster, he needs reps against Tennessee.
The problem is that the label following him is hard to shake - injury-prone - and the Bears need pass rush help badly enough that there’s still an opening for him. One preseason game may not be much, but for Davenport, it’s his one real shot to make an impression.
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