Pre-season Week 3 has arrived. This is the “dress rehearsal” game with the starters playing one half or more. However, according to Bill Bellichick it’s not even close to a regular season game. So we’ll enjoy fake football for a third week in a row.
Kansas City at Chicago 1 PM Sat August 27
The Bears looked better against the Patriots than against the Broncos and now face another playoff in the dress rehearsal game. Kansas City has a good defense to test the Bears offense. We’ll see if the Bears defense can figure out how to play without Pernell McPhee and Kyle Fuller who are both missing with knee injuries.
Detroit at Baltimore 7 PM Sat August 27
The Lions take on their third AFC North team in the pre-season. Baltimore had a ton of injuries last season and may be cautious with most of their starters. Detroit will try to work out their run blocking kinks and get on the same page on defense in the first series. We’ll see if Levy, Abdullah and Ebron play for Detroit. Rookie Taylor Decker gets a nice test with Terrell Suggs in pass protection. Detroit wants to look sharp but again it’s just pre-season.
Green Bay at San Francisco 10 PM Aug 27
Aaron Rodgers should play in his first pre-season game. Nelson will probably still sit out but the Packers offense will try to rebound from an average 2015 season. Eddie Lacy has looked good in the first two pre-season game and wants that to continue. The Packers defense won’t get much of a test against the San Francisco Chip Kelly gimmick offense led by Blaine Gabbert which was one of the worst in the league last season.
San Diego at Minnesota 1 PM Aug 28 Sunday on FOX
STADIUM UPDATE!! The Vikings open up their new US Bank Stadium with its first game. I’m sure Kevin Seifert has a full chubb somewhere about this new stadium. We’ll see if they have to pump in the crowd noise here. Bridgewater has been ailing and we will see if he plays on Sunday. The Vikings defense has looked great and Phillip Rivers, Antonio Gates and Keenan Allen provide a decent test. However, the Chargers offensive line and running game struggled last season so the Vikings front four should have a big game.