Two years ago quarterback Jay Cutler went into Giants Stadium during the regular season and emerged in a somewhat altered state of mind thanks to a concussion from nine sacks in one half. The Chicago Bears return there this week and say they welcome a very similar preseason challenge as they try to decide on their starting offensive line.

"You want to go out there and play against the best because it calluses you," offensive coordinator Mike Tice said.

Facing the Giants' standout pass-rushing ends and a 4-3 defense in Friday's game will tell Tice more about J'Marcus Webb and Chris Williams blocking one on one, if not about right tackle Gabe Carimi and the other linemen. Tice said facing a 3-4 as the Bears did last week says little about the ability of his tackles to go head to head with a defensive lineman.

"So now you want to see them against some real large, athletic, strong defensive ends, and then you see where you're at," Tice said.

The plan is to start Webb and get Williams time, as well. Tice then wants to decide on the starter.

"I don’t think anyone in the league has five, six guys they can rotate in that front four that can play like those guys," Cutler said about the Giants. "It’s going to be a tough test for [his line]. We’re going to try to help them out as much as possible. At the end of the game we’ll have a pretty good idea what we have up front."

In the last game Tice used his left guard and left tackle in tandem. Webb has worked a lot alongside left guard Chris Spencer, so he had Spencer in when Webb played, for the most part. Williams has practiced alongside Chilo Rachal -- and did in the game. It's probable that they'll keep the same approach.

It was unusual Monday to hear Tice actually praising the blocking of his tackles after they had been the source of so much scrutiny. Instead, he reserved his criticism for pass blocking problems in places other than the line without specifying -- so, either the backs failing to block the right blitzers or poor blocking by the tight ends.

Nevertheless, because of the struggles on the line and what happened to Cutler in 2010 in Giants Stadium, the focus will be on the linemen, especially left tackle.

"We're playing some real men this week, so we'll see how it goes," Tice said.

Follow Bears reporter Gene Chamberlain on Twitter: @CBSportsNFLCHI.