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The Bears beat the Browns 34-10 at Soldier Field in the preseason opener for both teams on Saturday, August 15, but the final score undersells what actually happened. Cleveland led 10-0 after one quarter, the game was tied 10-10 at halftime, and then Chicago scored 24 unanswered points once the presumed Week 1 starters on both sides were already on the bench. This was a night about backups, rookies, and roster bubble players, and both teams walked away with real answers about their depth.
Deshaun Watson started under center for Cleveland and looked like a quarterback getting hit live for the first time since 2024, in a good way. He completed 10 of his first 11 attempts, finished the half 11 of 15 for 126 yards, and directed the Browns to a field goal before Cleveland's rushing touchdown two drives later. He also got sacked and stripped of the ball later in the half, a reminder this is still a competition and not a coronation. Watson entered camp considered the favorite over Shedeur Sanders, a race the Washington Post reported is still in its early stages and unlikely to be settled until after Cleveland's second preseason game against Buffalo on August 22. One clean half did not end anything.
Shedeur Sanders relieved Watson for the third quarter and into the fourth, going 6 of 11 for 79 yards. His first series matched Watson's efficiency, moving the offense with a string of accurate short throws before the operation slowed down. Then, early in the fourth quarter, he badly overthrew a deep shot that was intercepted, exactly the kind of moment that gets replayed by anyone trying to settle this job on results rather than draft pedigree. Sanders has reportedly closed ground on Watson since the spring, when Watson was the clear favorite entering camp. A four-quarter split with a turnover attached will not close that gap by itself.
Cleveland traded up with Jacksonville to take KC Concepcion 24th overall, and he made the pick look justified in his preseason debut. Concepcion caught an 11-yard pass from Watson to help set up his own touchdown, then scored himself on a 14-yard end-around on the first snap of the second quarter, part of a night that finished with three catches for 27 yards. He split his college career between NC State and Texas A&M, where he put up 61 catches for 919 yards and nine touchdowns in his lone season before the Browns drafted him. A rookie touching the ball as both a runner and a receiver on the same scoring drive is worth tracking on rookie boards before the games even count.
Jerry Jeudy caught a 14-yard slant from Watson on Cleveland's opening scoring drive, the kind of rep a proven starting receiver is supposed to get in a preseason opener. What changed this offseason is how much company he now has. The Browns used their first-round pick on Concepcion and a second-round pick, No. 39 overall, on wide receiver Denzel Boston. Boston caught a 15-yard stop route from Watson in his own debut, arriving with a college resume good enough that one national draft analyst compared him before the draft to Rams star Puka Nacua, per this pre-draft breakdown. Jeudy is not losing his job over one August night, but Cleveland now has three real receivers pushing for targets.
Dylan Sampson led all Cleveland pass catchers with two receptions for 43 yards, continuing the third-down, check-down role he carved out as a rookie last season. Davon Booth paced the run game with 53 yards on four carries, a name to note as that backfield sorts itself out over the next two preseason games. Neither number changes the top of Cleveland's running back room, but Sampson doing his specific job well is the kind of repeatable outcome that keeps a role safe.
Caleb Williams did not play a snap. Head coach Ben Johnson sat his starting quarterback and a chunk of Chicago's projected starters for the opener, giving Williams a lengthy scripted walkthrough with the other rested players before kickoff instead. Johnson has not ruled out Williams playing in Weeks 2 or 3. Tyson Bagent started in his place and directed the touchdown drive that tied the game 10-10 at halftime, finishing 13 of 22 for 169 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
The rest of the comeback belonged to players further down the depth chart. Third-string quarterback Case Keenum came off the bench and went 9 of 10 for 151 yards and two touchdowns, a perfect 158.3 rating in relief. Keenum found running back Salvon Ahmed for a 49-yard touchdown on a screen pass and running back Brittain Brown for a six-yard score, while wide receiver Kaden Davis caught four passes for 88 yards, including a 41-yard gain, and Ray-Ray McCloud III added 63 yards on three catches just four days after signing. None of those names will matter once the real offense takes the field in September, but a preseason opener exists to find out which backups a coaching staff can trust later.
Concepcion and Boston both did enough to make Cleveland's receiver room a real story through the rest of camp, and Watson's clean pocket presence matters more for his dynasty outlook than one stripped sack does. Chicago will learn more about Williams once he actually takes a snap, and Keenum's afternoon is a fun story with no bearing on the regular season. Cleveland's trip to Buffalo will tell us a lot more than this one did about who actually earns a role once Week 1 of the real season arrives.
