CHICAGO, IL- The Chicago Bears began the preseason portion of their schedule on Friday night with a thrilling 34-28 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Wins and losses aren't really important in the preseason, but this the time of year when players from top to bottom are evaluated in game situations.

And here is my evaluation on how the Bears performed in their unofficial 2014 opener.....

The Bears starters looked almost as good as advertised as they played the majority of the first quarter. Quarterback Jay Cutler had some rust with his first few passes, but he eventually got it in gear and finished by completing 9-of-13 passes for 85 yards and a touchdown.

Wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery did quite well considering their limited snaps, they combined for six receptions for 47 yards. Dante Rosario was inserted into the starting lineup at tight end as Martellus Bennett is still suspended.

Rosario was thrown to a total of five times but only grabbed two of those passes for 28 yards. One of those passes however was a 23 yarder in the Bears second possession of the ball game. But he did convert a two-point conversion attempt late in the third quarter.

The starting offensive line -minus Kyle Long (ankle) and Jordan Mills (foot)- held their ground as Cutler was kept upright for every snap he played in. The starting defense, who took the field without cornerback Tim Jennings (quad) and defensive end Jared Allen, managed to keep the Eagles no-huddle offense in check.

The Eagles offensive starters were held scoreless and only gained 55 total yards. Quarterback Nick Foles accounted for 44 of those yards on 6-of-9 passing, he also threw two interceptions. Those two INT's came courtesy of Bears safety Ryan Mundy, and cornerback Sherrick McManis.

The Bears first team defense also looked solid on the pass rush. They didn't collect any sacks, but their speed and explosiveness off the ball caused Philly's offensive line to commit three holding penalties on their first two possessions.

The reserves for both teams took over in the second quarter. The major area of focus tonight was on the Bears backup quarterbacks. Jordan Palmer, Jimmy Clausen and rookie David Fales combined to complete 22-of-31 passes for 257 yards, and three touchdowns.

Palmer was the second string signal caller tonight. Despite completing the most pass attempts (8) out of the reserve bunch, he did look unsettled at times. He also was hesitant to throw deep after throwing an interception in the second quarter.

He settled for mainly mid-range passes, he was the only Bears quarterback to get sacked, and he took too long to throw the ball at times. Clausen on the other hand may have done just enough to surpass Palmer to be the number two guy.

He engineered two third quarter scoring drives (throwing two touchdown passes in the process) consisting of 80 and 87 yards respectively. He kept 87-yarder going by scrambling for 16 yards on 3rd-and-6 from from the Eagles 22-yard-line.

As for Fales, he only attempted seven passes on the night, but the Bears chose to run the ball more often than not when he was under center. There is still belief that Fales will end up on the practice squad this season.

Backup tight end Zach Miller stood out at the position as he led all Bears receivers with six catches for 68 yards and two touchdowns. Receiver Chris Williams, who's fighting to be the all-important third receiver, caught a 73-yard touchdown pass from Clausen before leaving the game with a hamstring injury.

Micheal Spurlock was the third leading receiver as he caught four balls for 56 yards. He also caught Clausen's second touchdown pass of the evening. The offensive line across the board did well as they only allowed the aforementioned sack on Palmer.

As for the running game, we probably won't get a good gauge on that until week two or three of the preseason. The Bears used a running back by committee on Friday. They ran the ball a total of 32 times for 92 yards.

Rookies Ka'Deem Carey (10 carries, 23 yards) and Jordan Lynch (seven carries, 24 yards) led the Bears ground game. Every time Lynch touched the ball, the fans cheered. Perhaps the former Northern Illinois standout had plenty of family in attendance.

The Bears defensive unit as a whole did struggle to some degree against the Eagles "Oregon Offense" led by head coach Chip Kelly. The Eagles gained 359 total yards, averaged 5.6 yards per play and had 15 possessions compared to the Bears' 13. But overall the Bears came through when it counted the most as they managed to force four turnovers (three interceptions and one fumble).

The second half however was the telling tale of Friday's game as the Bears reserves both outscored (20-7) and outgained (323-196) the Eagles which ultimately decided the outcome of the game. 

Even though it was nice to get this win, Jay Cutler knows that this team is still a work in progress. Especially after committing 14 penalties for 103 yards, both game highs.....

"We overcame a few penalties" Cutler said after the game. He added, "there were some mistakes out there, there's some things we have to clean up (in practice)."

In his post game press conference Bears head coach Marc Trestman said, "It was a good win, but it took all 90 guys to win this game. Overall we saw some encouraging things, we overcame some penalties, but the tape (game film) will tell more (when we get back to practice)."

Jared Allen didn't suit up tonight because he missed a good amount of practice time this week, but he did so for a good reason. He was tending to his family after the birth of his child.

Offensive lineman Eben Britton is still dealing with a pulled hamstring, as is cornerback Isaiah Frey. Safeties Craig Steltz (groin) and Chris Conte (shoulder) are still on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. Both men will be re-evaluated in the coming week.

There is some concern for the moment for the offensive line. Aside from Long, Mills, and Britton not playing Friday, backup guard/center Brian De La Puente left the game during the third quarter with a leg injury.

The Bears will now return to training camp in Bourbonnais and resume practice Sunday.