Chicago, Ill. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Bills closed out the 2023 preseason on Saturday with a 24-21 win over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. The win gave Buffalo a 2-1 record to close out the preseason.
LISTEN LIVE TO WGR:
Following the Bills' rough outing in Week 2 against the Steelers in Pittsburgh, head coach Sean McDermott elected to play his starters in the final preseason game. While he didn't give a timetable as to how long they would play on Saturday, he said he felt it was what was right for the team with where the group was at.
After the defense came out strong forcing a three-and-out on the first Bears drive, the offense kept the same vibe going, marching down the field in 12 plays and scoring a touchdown courtesy of running back Damien Harris.
This strong start allowed for an early end of the day for most of the starters, but the rest of the team kept control of the game until the final whistle.
Related
McDermott was very focused on how the starters were going to come out at the beginning of this game, and certainly wasn't disappointed.
"I applaud the guys that came in here with the right mindset, they were ready to play and had the right amount of energy going into the game," said McDermott following Saturday's victory. "They sustained it throughout the game, which is good to see."
While the Bills haven't had too many major position battles this training camp and preseason, one area of focus was on middle linebacker. McDermott saw a lot of what he wanted to see in the team's preseason finale.
"Just an evaluation, making sure we saw certain guys out there for an extended period of time. Some people playing together, which we saw at middle linebacker and the linebacker position as a whole," McDermott said. "I thought we got a good look at some of the people we wanted to see, and now we get a chance to watch it on tape and see how they performed with a little bit more detail."
Hear more of McDermott's postgame comments with the media available in the player below:
