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Come Fan with UsTuesday, June 23, 2026

The worst plays from Thursday’s NFL preseason games.

It’s part of the fun of the NFL preseason.

NFL: Denver Broncos at Chicago Bears
NFL: Denver Broncos at Chicago Bears
Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
Jeanna Kelley
Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.

We saw 99-yard touchdowns, Mitchell Trubisky and DeShone Kizer showing out, and plenty of other highlights from Thursday’s preseason games. But the beauty of the preseason lies in those plays that aren’t so pretty. Let’s celebrate them.

Yes, Trubisky turned in an impressive performance, but he isn’t the Bears’ starter. That would be Mike Glennon, who was at the center of several embarrassing plays.

Glennon completed 2-of-8 passes for 20 yards and threw one interception, which was returned for a touchdown by Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. It was Glennon’s second pass of the game.

It was not a great start for the offense. And it wasn’t all Glennon’s fault, either. Chicago’s line play was atrocious. Cody Whitehair snapped this ball way — WAY — over Glennon’s head, and all we can do is shake our heads at how everything else unfolded:

Not to be outdone, Broncos center Dillon Day flopped ridiculously here. His acting skills are definitely in preseason form:

The Falcons offense came out against the Dolphins firing on all cylinders, getting on the board early with a Devonta Freeman touchdown. Later in the game, though, the Falcons’ defensive backups looked totally outmatched:

First, Jalen Collins, who started the Super Bowl for Atlanta last season after starting cornerback Desmond Trufant went on injured reserve, gets burned to a crisp. Then Marcelis Branch, who’s fighting for a spot on the free safety depth chart, can’t keep track of Damore’ea Stringfellow to bring him down. It’s a 99-yard score. And it wasn’t the only long one of the night.

Matt Patricia couldn’t have been too happy with his Patriots defense on this 97-yard touchdown from the JaguarsKeelan Cole:

And that wasn’t even the most embarrassing moment for the Patriots. Tom Brady wasn’t playing Thursday night, but he sure was pretending to on the sideline:

DeShone Kizer did play well for the Browns. Brock Osweiler did not:

Osweiler was also dealing with some sketchy line play. Cam Erving was starting at left tackle in place of perpetual All-Pro Joe Thomas, and those are big shoes to fill. But Erving was bad:

Really bad:

But that’s the beauty of the preseason. It’s an opportunity for teams to get up to game speed and work out the kinks. There are going to be some hilariously awful plays in the process, so let’s enjoy them.

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