When it comes to the start of an NFL season, nearly six months after the completion and incomparable excitement of the Super Bowl – especially one that goes into overtime – it doesn’t get much more … underwhelming than the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, the annual launch point of preseason.
Still, for all of its typical drawbacks, it is a reminder that football is (almost) back, the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans suiting up Thursday night in Canton, Ohio, to do this year’s honors – the Bears coming away with a 21-17 “victory” in a game that was called midway through the third quarter due to inclement weather.
Yet despite the fact it doesn’t count in the standings or mean much to anyone, aside from the platform it provides to bottom-of-the-roster players, there’s still enough to sift through here to find some material winners and losers:
WINNERS
New NFL kickoff rule
With a game lacking star power – at least active star power – perhaps witnessing the league’s new kickoff architecture held more anticipation than anything else ahead of Thursday’s kickoff. In a bid to put the play back into the game in a meaningful way – and in a safe manner – after touchbacks became overly commonplace in 2023, the NFL borrowed from the XFL, basically eliminating the collisions that occur with kicking team players sprinting down the field in favor of set-up and landing zones that create something more akin to a running play once the kickoff is fielded.
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“Really, the bottom line was to try to simulate, to the extent possible, more of a scrimmage-type play to incentivize that return and hopefully reduce the injury rate as well,” said longtime league referee Walt Anderson, now NFL Media’s officiating and rules analyst.
There were no field-flipping runbacks Thursday, but there were seven aggregate returns averaging a modest 22.7 yards. There were also a pair of illegal formation flags thrown for players who moved before the ball was fielded. Stay tuned as teams and players continue to adjust here, but the potential for a consequential new play is patently obvious.
Brett Rypien and the backup quarterbacks
Texans QB1 C.J. Stroud and Bears rookie QB1 Caleb Williams predictably sat this one out. But their understudies were collectively sharp, combining to complete 34 of 47 passes for 382 yards, five TDs and nary a turnover in fewer than three full quarters of play. But Rypien, a journeyman hoping to stick with Chicago – Williams and second-year man Tyson Bagent appear to have the top two spots on the QB depth chart locked – had a heck of a rehearsal, whether for his current team or another one. Sure, it’s August football, but connecting on 11 of 15 precisely powered throws for 166 yards and three TDs will get you noticed.
Collin Johnson
Among the other Bears who got the night off were top WRs DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and first-rounder Rome Odunze. That means an opportunity for a fourth-year player like 6-6, 222-pound Johnson, who also understands he better impress at nearly every turn given the already limited spots still available on Chicago's wideout depth chart. But Johnson definitely shone Thursday, showing a nice chemistry with Rypien while catching a pair of TD passes from the backup passer as part of a three-catch, 56-yard night. Johnson doesn't have a regular-season scoring grab since he was a Jacksonville Jaguars rookie in 2020 ... but maybe he's ready to emerge now, whether in the Windy City or elsewhere.
Jonathan Owens
A core special teamer and backup safety during his career, he wasn’t with the Bears on Thursday … but rather in Paris, watching wife Simone Biles add another golden chapter to her GOAT legacy at the Olympics by winning the gymnastics all-around competition. Granted leave by the team to support Biles – and the Bears have also been squarely behind Team USA’s superstar – Owens is scheduled to return to Chicago on Saturday. You didn't miss much stateside, buddy.
Cam Akers
A veteran running back trying to earn a spot in Houston’s loaded backfield, he finished with 31 yards from scrimmage on seven touches, including a 4-yard TD reception. Not a bad start for a guy trying to stick in the league despite multiple Achilles injuries. "Most people wouldn't even be on the field again," he told NFL Network following the game.
Jason Kelce
Now retired from the NFL, the former Philadelphia Eagles superstar – can a center be a superstar? – and Travis’ big brother had a solid debut as an analyst for ESPN’s pre-game and halftime studio productions. But his commitment to the beret, following his own trip to Paris to follow the Olympics, truly distinguished Kelce.
LOSERS
Canton, Ohio
Hall of Fame induction weekend, which occurs in this NFL cradle an hour's drive from Cleveland, is a first-class event. Yet given the stakes of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game and its typically anonymous players, many who will never make a regular-season roster, the league made a wise move in 2017 by moving the exhibition to Thursday night as a precursor to the main event – the weekend enshrinement of the new class of football legends. But yet again – before Dwight Freeney, Randy Gradishar, Devin Hester, Andre Johnson, Steve McMichael, Julius Peppers and Patrick Willis see their new busts and don their gold jackets – the game itself was marred by circ*mstances, a huge Midwest storm descending on Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium this time around. Over the past 13 years, the game has now been canceled three times due to a work stoppage (2011), unplayable field conditions (2016) and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) before the towel was thrown in late Thursday evening due to the weather.
Value of preseason
Exhibition football will (probably) always have a minor place in the league’s ever-creeping calendar. However this game, in particular, has always felt a bit extraneous and is often treated as the bonus affair it is by the teams tasked to play it, an opportunity to take a longer look at fringe prospects. And considering the ever-advancing inevitability of an 18-game regular season, doesn’t it kinda feel like it's time to let the HOF Game and even more of the preseason go? Given the growing emphasis on joint practices – forums where it makes more sense to give established veterans reps in controlled environs – and the probability that players will ask for more time off in the offseason, including the earlier training camp reporting date this contest annually permits to its teams, might be time to make Hall of Fame weekend entirely about the immortals and leave the football transients out of it.
Lost battle of NFL’s young guns
Not that it was even a remote surprise, but woulda been nice to start the season – sorry, preseason – with just an appetizer of snaps for Stroud and Williams. Alas, wouldn’t be a shock if Stroud, the 2023 Offensive Rookie of the Year, sits out August’s games entirely while the debut of Williams, the No. 1 pick of the 2024 draft, will have to wait despite his admission he’d like the on-field work as he onboards into the pros. Chicago GM Ryan Poles did indicate during an NFL Network interview that Williams will likely play in the Bears’ next three preseason outings.
Defense
Neither team’s backup defenders did much to inspire confidence, perhaps a bit worrisome given defenses tend to be ahead of offenses at this time of year. But the Bears and Texans combined to surrender 38 points and 6.2 yards per play … in a game that didn’t reach the fourth quarter. Sure, no one's running much beyond basic schemes in August, but still plenty to work on in the coming days and weeks for a pair of teams with playoff aspirations – especially since both are led by head coaches (Chicago’s Matt Eberflus and Houston’s DeMeco Ryans) who made their bones as defensive coordinators.
Houston’s new uniforms
They’ll take a bit of getting used to. For the first 22 seasons of their existence, the Texans’ primary home and road uniforms didn’t deviate from their classic, conservative look. However both were updated in the offseason, and the team will also have two alternate uniforms – each featuring a unique helmet. Houston wore its road whites Thursday … and they just don’t look familiar yet, the bull horns wrapping around the shoulders and thick striping on the pants some of the several fashion departures for a team that was stylistically staid for so long.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.
