Ravens slip past Bears in Hall game dominated by defense

CANTON, Ohio — The Ravens and Bears honored their great linebackers Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher with some defense to make them proud in the Hall of Fame game that opened the NFL’S preseason Thursday night.

There was a little spark of offense, some provided by Baltimore’s firstround draft pick Lamar Jackson in the second half of a 17-16 victory. His 7-yard touchdown pass to fellow first-rounder Hayden Hurst came after the Ravens’ defense recovered a fumble.

Chicago put together its best drive in the final minutes and journeyman Tyler Bray connected with Tanner

Gentry for a 10-yard score to cap a 92-yard march. But the 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete.

Otherwise, D was the letter of the day: there were six turnovers in all, and 12 sacks, eight by the Bears.

“To represent Ray in this game to our guys meant even more,” Ravens be responsible for disciplining any demonstrators.

The players’ union filed a grievance about the policy change, and late last month, the new policy was put on hold while the NFL and NFLPA work on a resolution.

“We as a group talked about it and decided that was what we were doing,” new Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “It’s for unity and togetherness.” coach John Harbaugh said.

“It was a special moment for our organization,” noted new Bears coach Matt Nagy.

The game marked a comeback of sorts for Ravens quarterback Robert Griffin III, who sat out 2017.

“It felt great,” said Griffin, who was 7-for-11 passing for 58 yards and a touchdown. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am to play the game again.”

Generally, it was a sloppy affair marred by a slew of dropped passes, poor protection for the quarterbacks, and poor throws by those same quarterbacks.

Nagy, the former offensive coordinator in Kansas City, made his head coaching debut with the Bears. He has said his new offense is in the early steps of development, and it looked that way all night.

Of course, with backups playing it’s nearly impossible to gauge progress. But he was optimistic.

“The arrow is pointing up for us,” he said. “We definitely took steps in the right direction.”