CLEVELAND — A look at the Bears’ bench Thursday night brought their opening day roster into clearer focus.
Thursday’s healthy scratches figure to have made the team:
Offense: quarterback Jay Cutler; running back Jeremy Langford; receivers Alshon Jeffery, Eddie Royal and Marc Mariani; tight end Zach Miller; and offensive linemen Bobby Massie, Ted Larsen, Cody Whitehair and Charles Leno, Jr.
Defense: linemen Akiem Hicks, Eddie Goldman and Mitch Unrein; outside linebackers Lamarr Houston and Willie Young; inside linebacker Jerrell Freeman; and safeties Harold Jones-Quartey and Adrian Amos.
Injured cornerbacks Tracy Porter, Kyle Fuller and Bryce Callahan; inside linebacker Danny Trevathan; right guard Kyle Long; and outside linebacker Pernell McPhee are all expected to make the team. The Bears must decide by 3 p.m. Saturday whether McPhee, who hasn’t practiced since the last season, will begin on the physically unable to perform list, missing at least the team’s first six games.
Coach John Fox praised those that played in the 21-7 win, singling out cornerbacks Jacoby Glenn and De’Vaunte Bausby as well as linebacker Christian Jones.
“They’re going to make it hard on the coaches,” he said.
The healthy players who didn’t participate Thursday have reason to feel comfortable; all 29 healthy scratches from the 2015 preseason finale against the Browns made the team.
Marshall on Bears’ departure
Brandon Marshall told The MMQB the Bears traded him to the Jets in March 2015 because they wouldn’t let him appear on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL.”
“When I sat down with (GM) Ryan Pace and coach John Fox, we met, and I asked, ‘What do you guys think about this?’ It was a big topic,” the receiver said in a story published Thursday. “And Ryan Pace said, ‘Well, we can do that in the offseason.’ So I was like, ‘Well, what about half the season?’ ‘No.’ ‘What about once or twice?’ ‘No.’ ‘What about bye week?’ ‘No, you can do that in the offseason.’
“Right then, I knew I wouldn’t be a Bear anymore, because I think that the business of the NFL is growing every single day, and players are being told to stay in a box and just play football, and we’re missing out on a lot of opportunities, not only to grow as men and businessmen but to experience different things.”
That’s oversimplifying things. The new Bears administration suspected, perhaps accurately, that Marshall’s locker room demeanor would be distracting.
This and that
• First-round pick Leonard Floyd left the game in second quarter after being poked in the left eye, and returned with a shield on his facemask.
“It took me a while to get my eyes back right,” he said.
• Kicker Robbie Gould made three field goals but missed both extra point attempts. He declined comment, saying he’d talk during the week, but holder/punter Pat O’Donnell said that “the snaps seemed good” and they would figure out the flaws after watching film.
• Defensive end Cornelius Washington and outside linebacker Danny Mason exited with knee injuries. Washington said his wasn’t serious.
• Returner Daniel Braverman let a punt go over his head — and bounce until it totaled 75 yards. The Bears didn’t let him return again.
