The Buffalo Bills will pack their bags and depart St. John Fisher University following Thursday’s training camp practice in Pittsford, and they will continue the rest of their 2024 season preparation at their home base at One Bills Drive.
That will also be the site Saturday afternoon when they open their three-game preseason schedule by hosting the Chicago Bears for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
Don’t expect to see Josh Allen or many of the players who will start Week 1 against the Arizona Cardinals, but there will be plenty to pay attention to as the Bills begin a critical phase of their roster evaluation.
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Allen was asked Wednesday if he thinks it would be helpful for him to play briefly in the preseason because of all the new pieces he has on offense, but he was pretty vague when he said, “I’m not sure how much I’m playing, if I’m playing at all. All reps help.”
Naturally, the wide receiver position will be the most interesting to watch because after the presumptive top three - Curtis Samuel, Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman - the competition for the last three spots is intense between players such as Marques Valdes-Scantling, Mack Hollins and Tyrell Shavers, but also KJ Hamler, Justin Shorter and maybe Andy Isabella trying to break through.
Earlier in the week, it seemed as if fans were not going to get the opportunity to watch the NFL debut of Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, but that has changed and - who Williams did not play last week in the Hall of Fame Game against Houston - will play against the Bills.
“He’s right where he needs to be right now,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said Thursday. “He’s having some good days, some good periods, and then some other ones that he’s learning from adversity and a setback. I told him to just lean into that. When you have a setback or have adversity, don’t shy away from it. Lean into it and then learn from it and then get better from it.”
Another player Bills fans might get to see is former Bills linebacker Tremaine Edmunds who is expected to play for the first time in Buffalo since he left at the end of the 2022 season.
Here’s the broadcast and betting information for Bills vs. Bears:
What time is the Bills vs Bears game?
- Date: Saturday, Aug. 10
- Time: 1 p.m.
- Place: Highmark Stadium
How to watch Buffalo Bills vs Chicago Bears game on local TV, streaming
- Network TV channel: CBS. The game will be available locally via the following stations: WROC (Channel 8, Rochester), WIVB (Buffalo area), WSYR (Syracuse), WPNY/WFXV/WUTR (Utica); WETM/EETM (Elmira); WWTI (Watertown); WTEN/WXXA (Albany).
- Cable TV: NFL Network, with the exception of the local Buffalo market.
- Online streaming services: You can watch games on NFL.com and the NFL mobile app, and you can subscribe to NFL+, the league’s own streaming service, though you can’t cast the games to your TV - you must watch on your phone or tablet.
- TV streaming: You can also stream games if you have subscriptions to Spectrum, DirecTV, fuboTV, Sling, Vidgo, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV+.
Who is favored to win Bills vs. Bears game
- Betting line: Bills +1.5
- Over-under: 37.5
- Money line: Bills plus-100 (bet $100 to win $100) and Bears minus-120 (bet $120 to win $100).
Who is announcing the Bills vs. Bears game
- Play-by-play: Andrew Catalon
- Analyst: Steve Tasker
- Sideline reporter: Maddy Glab
On the radio: How to listen to the Bills vs Bears game
You can listen on SiriusXM satellite radio on channel 226 (Bills feed) and channel 380 (Bears feed), and on traditional radio, the Bills Radio Network has stations all across the state. Chris Brown has the play-by-play, Eric Wood is the analyst, and Sal Capaccio is the sideline reporter. The network includes:
- Rochester (WCMF 96.5 and WROC 950 AM)
- Buffalo (WGR550, 550 AM)
- Syracuse (WTKW 99.5/WTKV 105.5)
- Binghamton (WDRE 100.5FM)
- Ithaca (WIII 99.9/100.3 FM)
- Bath (WVIN 98.3 FM)
- Newark (WACK 1420 AM)
- Dansville (WDNY 93.9 FM)
- Elmira (WNGZ 1490 AM)
- Auburn (WAUB 98.1 FM/1590 AM)
- Geneva (WGVA 95.9 FM, 1240 AM)
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
