The Chicago Bears kick off their fifth and final game of the 2018 preseason Thursday against the Buffalo Bills in what will be a showcase of third and fourth-stringers fighting for a spot on the final roster. Several jobs are up for grabs at wide receiver, outside linebacker and cornerback, and there’s even a starting job on the line between James Daniels and Eric Kush at left guard. Here are all the ways to catch the Bears vs. Bills Week 4 preseason game. What: Buffalo Bills (1-2) vs. Chicago Bears (2-2). When: Thursday, Aug. 30, 8 p.m. Where: Soldier Field, Chicago, IL. Television: Announcers: Adam Amin, Jim Miller WFLD (FOX/32 – Chicago) WIFR (CBS/23 – Rockford) WYZZ (FOX/43 – Peoria) WRSP (FOX-55/27 – Springfield/Champaign) WSBT (FOX/22.2 – South Bend IN) WANE (CBS/15 – Fort Wayne IN) WTVW (CW/7 – Evansville IN) [tape delay] WAWV (ABC/38 – Terre Haute IN) [tape delay] WPBI (NBC/16 – Lafayette IN) KLJB (FOX/18 – Quad Cities) KFXA (FOX/28 – Cedar Rapids IA) KCWI (CW/23 – Des Moines) WIFS (57 – Madison WI) Radio: WBBM 780 (Chicago) Live stream: fuboTV (try it free).<doc-sep>The Chicago Bears will finally cap off their long preseason on Thursday night against the Buffalo Bills. Thursday night's game will be Chicago's fifth of the preseason. The team had an extra game this year because of their participating in the Hall of Fame Game in early August ahead of Brian Urlacher's induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Last week the team played the Kansas City Chiefs in the presumed "dress rehearsal" game but sat the majority of starters. On Thursday night none of the starters will get any work on the field. Chicago also announced on Tuesday that backup quarterback Tyler Bray is expected to play the entire game against the Bills. Mitch Trubisky is set to be the team's starter in the regular season with Chase Daniel serving as his backup. It is not known yet whether or not the Bears will keep three quarterbacks on the roster. Bray signed a one-year deal with the team this offseason due in large part to his familiarity with the offensive scheme under head coach Matt Nagy. Bray was with Nagy in Kansas City the last few seasons. Since no starters will be on the field it will be an opportunity for many of the team's young players to get more work in before cuts this upcoming weekend. One battle worth watching will be along the offensive line. Nagy explained on Tuesday that the Bears are still trying to determine their starting lineup along the offensive line for the season opener against the Green Bay Packers. The final battle appears to be down to rookie James Daniels and veteran Eric Kush at the left guard position. Both are expected to get more playing time on Thursday night as Nagy and his staff determine who is best fit for that position this season. Even with many of the team's defensive battles already set there could be some interesting players to watch, especially in the secondary. Young cornerbacks such as John Franklin III, Rashard Fant and Michael Joseph are all out to prove themselves one final time. Joseph has been the most impressive of the trio up to this point in the preseason. How to Watch Where: Soldier Field When: August 30 Time: 7:00 p.m. CT TV Broadcast: Fox 32 (locally) - Kyle Brandt (play-by-play) and Jim Miller (color commentary) Radio Broadcast: WBBM-780 - Jeff Joniak (play-by-play), Tom Thayer (color commentary) and Mark Grote (sideline reporter) Follow: CBS Sports app Stream: fuboTV, NFL app The finale will feature Good Morning Football host Kyle Brandt making his play-by-play debut. Adam Amin announced the team's previous three games with Al Michaels and the Sunday Night Football crew handling the preseason opener in the Hall of Fame game. Brandt is a local talent who playing at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois before playing collegiately at Princeton.<doc-sep>FOURTH QUARTER Ball game, Bills come back and win 28-27. The Bills finally wear down the Bears’ defense and score a touchdown on an AJ McCarron pass. Rookies Kylie Fitts and Bilal Nichols each had a sack on that drive. Tyler Bray throws an interception. You can click here for live statistical updates. Outside linebacker Kasim Edebali leaves the game on the cart. The injury appeared to be serious. We’ll update as soon as we know more. The Bills score (yawn), and miss on the two-point conversion. It’s 27-9 good guys. THIRD QUARTER Knile Davis with a rushing touchdown behind a Ryan Nall lead block. It’s 27-3 as the quarter ends. Here are some halftime stats. Ryan Nall - Four rushes for 79 yards and a touchdown, one reception for two yards Taquan Mizzell - nine runs for 23 yards, two catches for 24 yards Tyler Bray - 12 for 16, 120 yards Doran Grant - three tackles, two passes defensed, one interception John Timu - two tackles, one interception Cavon Walker - one sack SECOND QUARTER Cody Parkey doinks a last second field goal off the upright for the miss. Bears head into the tunnel with a 20-0 lead. John Timu with an interception on a tipped pass. Ryan Nall is making a case to make the 53-man roster. His 32-yard touchdown gives the Bears a 20-0 lead. Jonathon Mincy gets a sack on the nickle blitz. FIRST QUARTER Cavon Walker picked up a sack and he helps solidify his chances to make the practice squad. Bears lead 10-0 on a Cody Parkey field goal and this pick-six by Doran Grant! Here are the inactives tonight. Bears inactive tonight Trubisky Robinson Miller Gabriel Amukamara LeBlanc Fuller Howard Cohen Cunningham Cooper DHC Callahan Amos Jackson Kwiatkoski Anderson Roquan Trevathan Kush Whitehair Massie Leno Long Sowell Burton M-Brown Shaheen Sims Bullard Goldman Acho Floyd Hicks Lynch — Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) August 30, 2018 We’ve got a busy next few days planned at Windy City Gridiron. After tonight’s game, Patti will be dropping the quickest post-game recap on the interwebs. Tomorrow morning Jacob will have his post-game notes, and our cuts tracker will go live as the Bears need to trim their roster down to 53 players before the Saturday 3 p.m. Central time deadline. On Sunday we’ll have a practice squad tracker that will cover all the news and rumors that may come about as the Bears fill their 10-man practice squad. In case you need a practice squad refresher as to what the heck it is, I got you covered: Everything you need to know about NFL practice squads. Catch up on Jeff’s 5 Questions With to learn all about the Bills. Robert and Aaron each have a 53-man roster prediction. Click their names to see their picks. As for the game tonight, it will be Tyler Bray going the distance at quarterback for the Bears. James Daniels gets the start at left guard. What will you guys be watching tonight for? This is your Thursday Night Open Thread, and remember it is rated WCG-MA. PREGAME Here’s a preseason hot take. I actually like watching preseason games. I don’t care if it’s backups vs backups or No. 1’s vs. No. 2’s, because it’s still football. I watch the practice games for different reasons than I do the regular season, but I still can find some enjoyment. I’ll even find something in the fourth Bears preseason game to enjoy because the 22 players between the lines are fighting for their professional lives. The odds of making a 53-man roster are slim, but the ten man practice squad is squarely in their sights. Last week the Chicago Bears sat most of their starters, but I enjoyed watching Rashaad Coward’s development in his first year as an offensive lineman. I enjoyed watching rookie James Daniels battle at both center and left guard. Fellow rookie, wide out Javon Wims. was playing like a guy fighting for a roster spot. On defense, I was monitoring the battle at backup outside linebacker. Both Isaiah Irving and Kylie Fitts had sacks, but I don’t think either stood out. Veteran John Timu may be auditioning for a new team, but I like the way he plays football. Undrafted free agent Kevin Toliver got the start at corner and he tried to make a statement. Now with that being said, I think the NFL’s preseason is too long. I tweeted out my thoughts on what they should do few days ago. The NFL should adopt a 18 week schedule (stay at 16 games), cut down to 2 preseason games, have one televised intrasquad scrimmage (a family fest thing), and one week spent practicing with another team and a televised controlled scrimmage following that week of practice. — Lester A. Wiltfong Jr. (@wiltfongjr) August 25, 2018 I’ll add to this that no team should play a Thursday night game after playing on Sunday. Teams should also have all 53 men on their roster active on game day. There should be more fluidity between the practice squad and the main roster, and there should be a four game injured reserve list. Adding an 18th week, without going to 18 games, will give the networks the advertising revenue they covet, and keep the season at 16 games (with two byes). Time, TV channel, and streaming info Date: Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018 Time: 7:00 p.m. CT Location: Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois TV: This game will be aired locally in the following places per 506 Sports. WFLD (FOX/32 - Chicago) WIFR (CBS/23 - Rockford) WYZZ (FOX/43 - Peoria) WRSP (FOX-55/27 - Springfield/Champaign) WSBT (FOX/22.2 - South Bend IN) WANE (CBS/15 - Fort Wayne IN) WTVW (CW/7 - Evansville IN) [tape delay] WAWV (ABC/38 - Terre Haute IN) [tape delay] WPBI (NBC/16 - Lafayette IN) KLJB (FOX/18 - Quad Cities) KFXA (FOX/28 - Cedar Rapids IA) KCWI (CW/23 - Des Moines) WIFS (57 - Madison WI) Announcers: Kyle Brandt (play-by-play) and Jim Miller (color) Radio: WBBM 780 AM and 105.9 FM, and in Spanish on Latino Mix 93.5 FM and Univision 1200 AM Replay: Full replay schedule at NFL Network Online Stream: NFL Gamepass Weather: 70 and clear [NFL weather] Odds: Bears -3.0 [OddsShark] SB Nation Bills site: Buffalo Rumblings Bears vs. Bills prediction: Bears 29 - Bills 14 via Oddshark Latest articles from WCG: Bears vs Bills - What to watch for Notes from the last preseaosn game Ted Sundquist on the Bears quarterback situation and virtual reality Bears Stock up/Stock down OUR FANTASY FOOTBALL SECTION IS LEGIT Click on our names to follow us on Twitter: WCG Contributors: Jeff Berckes; Patti Curl; Eric Christopher Duerrwaechter; Kev H; Sam Householder; Jacob Infante; Aaron Lemming; Andrew Link; Ken Mitchell; Steven Schweickert; Jack Silverstein; EJ Snyder; Lester Wiltfong, Jr.; Robert Zeglinski; Like us on Facebook.<doc-sep>
The fourth and final game of the NFL’s preseason is here for the Buffalo Bills (1-2), who like many of the teams in the league face some difficult decisions leading up to Saturday’s 4 p.m. deadline to reduce the roster to 53 players. The players who are fighting for a spot on the roster will have one last chance to impress head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane when Buffalo travels to face the Chicago Bears (2-2) at 8 p.m. Thursday. It is widely thought that both teams will rest their starters on both sides of the ball, or at the very least, have them play in a series or two in the preseason finale. The Bears already announced that veteran third-string quarterback Tyler Bray will be under center for all of the game’s snaps, barring an injury. Bills fans might want rookie Josh Allen to go out for a few series and put the dismal performance in Week 3 of the preseason behind him, but only McDermott knows who will start this last game of the preseason, and as of Wednesday night, McDermott was mum on his plans for the starting QB. There are many positional battles that are still undecided: Wide receiver (beyond Kelvin Benjamin , Zay Jones , Jeremy Kerley ) , , ) Tight end (after Charles Clay and Jason Croom , have either Nick O’Leary , Khari Lee , or Keith Towbridge done enough to make the roster?) and , have either , , or done enough to make the roster?) Defensive end (will Mike Love or Terrence Fede make the roster as valuable depth?) or make the roster as valuable depth?) Defensive tackle ( Rickey Hatley and Adolphus Washington could use a strong showing to cement their roster spots) and could use a strong showing to cement their roster spots) The No. 2 cornerback job (which appeared to be Vontae Davis ’ until a mediocre showing against the Bengals) ’ until a mediocre showing against the Bengals) Punter, where Jon Ryan is making a push to take Colton Schmidt ’s gig. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch the game. TV Schedule Date: Thursday, August 30, 2018 Time: 8 p.m. ET Channel: The game will be carried locally on CBS on WKBW 7 in Buffalo, WROC 8 in Rochester, WSYR 9 in Syracuse and Utica, WETM 18 in Elmira and Binghamton, WXXA 23 in Albany. Announcers: Andrew Catalon (play-by-play), Steve Tasker (analyst), Thad Brown (sideline reporter) Location: Soldier Field | Chicago, Illinois NFL Network replay: Saturday, September 1 at 6:00 AM ET Radio: WGR 550AM (Buffalo), WCMF 96.5 FM and WROC 950 AM (Rochester), Fan 590 AM (Toronto), WTKW 99.5 FM and WKTV 105.5 FM (Syracuse). Radio Play-by-Play: John Murphy and Mark Kelso in the booth with sideline reporter Sal Capaccio. Online Streaming: Local live stream or NFL Game Pass (Free 7-Day Trial) Bills 2018 preseason schedule: Week 1: Carolina Panthers 28, Buffalo Bills 23 Week 2: Buffalo Bills 19, Cleveland Browns 17 Week 3: Cincinnati Bengals 26, Buffalo Bills 13 Week 4: at Chicago Bears; Thu, Aug 30, 8 p.m. ET