The Cincinnati Bengals lost 27-3 to the Chicago Bears in Week 2 of the preseason. Although Cincinnati’s defense showed promise, the Bears dominated the rest of the game in a game marred by rain and penalties.

Fortunately, the Bengals have checked out some of their replacements. Here are the best and worst from the game.

winner

Matt Lee

The rookie center from Miami held up well in pass defense throughout the game, including this impressive play against 6-foot-1 defensive tackle Gervon Dexter.

Lee has done enough to believe he has a good chance of making the 53-man roster, but he needs another strong week to secure that spot.

Kris Jenkins

The rookie defensive tackle from Michigan made a big sack of Caleb Williams, Cincinnati’s only one of the day. Best of all, he used a beautiful spin move to do it, showing that he’s adding more moves to his repertoire.

Just what this line of defense needed.

Trayveon Williams

After Chris Evans suffered a torn patellar tendon, it was clear that the experienced Williams would be used as the RB3 this season. And he looked solid against a pumped-up Bears defense (six carries for 22 yards, two catches for 19 yards) and made the decisive runs for the most part.

Noah Cain also had some nice runs towards the end of the game, managing 28 yards on eight attempts.

Maema Njongmeta

Another great performance from the undrafted free agent from Wisconsin, who tied for the team’s most tackles with eight tackles (seven solo) and one tackle for loss. It was the second straight week he led the Bengals in tackles. Njongmeta appears ready to make the 53-man roster.

loser

Josh Newton

After a nice pass breakup against DJ Moore early in the first half, Newton seemed overwhelmed throughout the first half.

Newton was rushed 43 yards by Tyler Scott and called for questionable pass interference, giving the Bears their first points of the game. And then he was rushed 45 yards by Rome Odunze, setting up a Caleb Williams touchdown run.

And finally, he missed a touchdown by Dante Pettis in the third quarter after he misstepped in the slot and was thrown out of his shoes.

Newton has had good moments, but he doesn’t seem quite ready for a significant role on defense when Week 1 of the regular season begins.

Logan Woodside

With Jake Browning recovering from a rib injury, Woodside got a chance to prove himself as the league’s second-string QB. Although his 68% passing percentage looked good, Woodside was a bit overwhelmed by Chicago’s defense. And he played like he was trying not to lose a meaningless game.

Woodside relied on screen passes for many of his positive yards, dropped the ball in long-yardage situations, and failed to recognize corner blitzes twice in the first half, resulting in a sack and an interception.

Then he threw an ugly interception down the sideline in the second half, which essentially ended the QB2 debate for him in Cincinnati and probably elsewhere.

Mortal Bengals fans

The average life expectancy is only 77.5 years. This game took up three hours of the limited time the Bengals have on earth, but they got little joy from watching their players get beat up by the likes of Tyson Bagent.

Cincinnati didn’t seem mentally prepared for this game, even by preseason standards. Perhaps they were a little shocked when they lost both D’Ante Smith and Evans to season-ending patella injuries in joint practices with Chicago.

Hopefully they will look better on Thursday against the Indianapolis Colts.