Don't read too much into preseason opener

In 1970, when one-hit wonder Edwin Starr famously asked the question, "War, what is it good for?" his emphatic response was, "Absolutely nothing!"

If we asked Bears coach Marc Trestman a similar question — such as, "First exhibition games, what are they good for?" — would he have the same response?

Trestman was asked the question and he responded: "Practice is really important, but we'll go out Friday night and give them a chance to see what they do against an opponent at a different level because it's under the lights with an audience."

In other words, Friday night's opening preseason game against the Carolina Panthers will be a glorified practice with contact, at full speed, in which most of the guys who will make the final 53-man roster will see little or no playing time. It's a chance to start to identify who might be the 40th to 53rd players on the roster, and the next group that makes the practice squad.

Kyle Nabors: Chicago Bears' preseason game grades are in!

The Bears' first preseason contest is in the books. What does that mean? Well, not much in regard to the team's 2013 season.

Coach Marc Trestman and company will be back in Bourbonnais on Sunday, and a 24-17 loss to Carolina isn't going to change much over the last few days of training camp.

That shouldn't stop us from breaking down the film, however. We might not be closer to discovering the Bears' potential as a team, but we're one step closer to finding out what this roster will look like.

So with that, let's hand out some grades.

Quarterback: B- Jay Cutler didn't exactly get the Marc Trestman era off to a pretty start as he was picked off his first throw. He recovered nicely, however, to finish 6 of 8 for 56 yards in a brief appearance.

Elsewhere, the Bears backup signal callers handled their first action of the season fairly well.