It’s preseason football, where everything is made up and the points don’t matter. The score is certainly irrelevant — a clean bill of health is a win, full stop — but individual efforts may indeed go a long way in pursuit of final roster spots. Sunday gives us a doubleheader of summertime tune-ups and prove-its. The Miami Dolphins swim over to Lake Michigan for a scrimmage with the Chicago Bears, as new coach Ben Johnson officially pops out to the party. Then, the New Orleans Saints go west to Inglewood, where they play Jim Harbaugh’s Los Angeles Chargers (which sounds just a bit less strange in year No. 2).
NFL preseason Week 1 (Sunday)
- Venues: Soldier Field — Chicago | SoFi Stadium — Inglewood, Calif.
- Watching in person? Get tickets on StubHub.
On-air guide
| Game | Time (ET) | TV | Stream |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Dolphins @ Bears |
1 p.m. |
NFL Network |
|
|
Saints @ Chargers |
4 p.m. |
NFL Network |
Preseason games can also be streamed with an NFL+ subscription. All NFL Network broadcasts are also over the air in the teams’ local markets.
Dolphins vs. Bears
These teams practiced together in Lake Forest on Friday. Caleb Williams won’t play in this one, so Tyson Bagent draws a start under center. The Division II undrafted rookie went 2-2 in four games during 2023, the tanked season that ultimately landed Williams in Chicago. Most of the Bears’ first-string players will sit Sunday out after using the joint practice for live reps, according to beat writer Kevin Fishbain. Miami’s Mike McDaniel hasn’t said much about who will play for the Dolphins. We all but certainly won’t see oft-injured quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who took just 11 snaps last preseason.
Best player to wear both jerseys (by Approximate Value): Jay Cutler, 2009-16 (73 AV with Bears, 6 with Dolphins).
Insight from The Athletic reporters:
“The Dolphins drafted [Patrick] Paul in the second round in 2024, knowing Terron Armstead’s days in the NFL were numbered. It was a wise course of action; now it just has to work. Paul didn’t play much in his rookie year, but in his limited exposure, he also didn’t provide much reason for optimism. PFF charged him with allowing 15 pressures and three sacks on just 210 pass block snaps and ended up rating him 78th out of 81 qualified offensive tackles in 2024. It’s a small sample size to be sure, but if the Dolphins offense is going to recapture its former glory, it’s going to need a lot more from Paul than he showed last season.” — Jim Ayello
“When Ben Johnson implemented a period with full tackling in a practice a week ago, it was something not seen at Halas Hall in a long time. It didn’t happen under Matt Eberflus. There was live tackling a few times early in Matt Nagy’s tenure and in 2015 under John Fox, but it wasn’t sustained under either coach. Tuesday’s practice, which began with short-yardage and goal-line situations, brought it to a whole different level.
‘I feel like that’s what we should practice like every day,’ [Tyrique] Stevenson said. ‘That’s the message the team shot to us, the coaching staff and everybody, that’s what we need to see out there every day to be a championship defense and championship offense. Moving forward, that’s what we want to see at practice.’” — Kevin Fishbain
Saints vs. Chargers
Understandably, there’s now an acute somberness hovering around the Chargers’ summer. Rashawn Slater tore his patellar tendon during practice, and Los Angeles’ best blocker is done for the season before it ever started. Slater’s teammates will begin recalibrating this weekend, and making it out unscathed is all that matters come Sunday. L.A. won the preseason-opening Hall of Fame Game on July 31. Reclamation project Trey Lance threw two touchdowns in that 34-7 win over Detroit. Kellen Moore is the new head coach in New Orleans. The former pro quarterback and offensive coordinator tries to install an offense with Spencer Rattler (0-6 in six starts last year) and Tyler Shough, the second-round pick from Louisville who played in college for seven (7!) years.
Best player to wear both jerseys (by Approximate Value): Drew Brees (228 AV with Saints, 49 with Chargers)
Insight from The Athletic reporters:
“There’s really no other direction to turn for this topic for the Saints. The team has no idea if the 2025 second-round pick will be the future at quarterback. Shough, who turns 26 in late September, will basically be handed the starting job, though, despite a competition with Spencer Rattler. Still, there’s no doubt every pass thrown by Shough in training camp and preseason games will be heavily dissected. He’s the only other QB from April’s draft who will likely start in Week 1 outside of the Titans’ Cam Ward. If Shough struggles during training camp, then what?” — Larry Holder
“Chargers undrafted rookie quarterback DJ Uiagalelei had been wearing No. 13 through the first three weeks of training camp, including in the Hall of Fame Game last week. It never quite felt right. Of course, that number had belonged to receiver Keenan Allen for 11 seasons, from 2013 to ’23, as Allen became the leading wide receiver in franchise history. On Tuesday evening at The Bolt, Uiagalelei jogged onto the practice fields wearing a different jersey, No. 7. Something was up. Moments later, the Chargers announced the reason: Allen had agreed to terms to return to the Chargers for a 14th season.” — Daniel Popper
NFL Network is actually showing wire-to-wire preseason broadcasts all of Sunday. Only these two aforementioned matchups are live, but the rest of the programming blocks are filled by reruns of Saturday’s five regional games (all times Eastern):
- Broncos @ 49ers, midnight
- Chiefs @ Cardinals, 3 a.m. (oh boy!)
- Titans @ Bucs, 6 a.m.
- Steelers @ Jaguars, 9 a.m.
- Cowboys @ Rams, 8 p.m.
NFL preseason odds
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(Photo of Ben Johnson: David Banks / Imagn Images)