Titans Sharp New Offense Nowhere to Be Found in Loss to Bears

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CHICAGO – That sharp new offense, with a new stable of playmakers and scheme for everything didn’t show up in the Windy City. It’s just one game, sure, just 5.9 percent of the season. But count it as a concerning one because the Titans gifted it to the Bears, who were exceedingly average on Sunday.

A renaissance may be coming, but at its dawn, the Titans looked strikingly familiar: Run-based, with a defense that played well enough to win but wasn’t rewarded and special teams that gave up some painful stuff.

Chicago Bears defensive end Darrell Taylor (52) creates a fumble sack of Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
  Will Levis gets hit on a sack-fumble/ Nam Y. Huh, ASSOCIATED PRESS

It’s a loss that Tennessee will need to snatch back from a team it shouldn’t beat somewhere down the road after turning a 17-point lead into a 24-17 fiasco at Soldier Field.

An uncomfortable Will Levis connected on just 19 of his 32 passes with an average of 6.7 yards a completion, while taking three sacks and seven more hits, losing a fumble that set up a field goal and throwing an incredibly bad pick-6.

The Titans were clinging to a 1-point lead with 7:45 left in the fourth quarter on a third-and-6 from their 45-yard line when Levis dropped back. Chicago sent everyone for the first time all game, and Levis recognized it. He shulled slightly to his left as former Titans DeMarcus Walker got past JC Latham, getting to his waist and sliding down him, beginning to pull him down. 

Levis pulled the ball down, then looked at the left sideline ahead of him and decided to save yards by throwing it out of bounds. He flicked it underhand, past the line of scrimmage. Tyrique Stevenson easily stepped between the ball and the sideline, collecting it and sprinting 43 yards for a score that flipped the game.

“Just a bonehead play,” Levis said. “Recency bias from getting away with it the last time I did it in a game, just trying to throw it in the dirt. When you’re getting taken down you don’t know what’s going to happen to the ball as it comes out. You’re really just trying to dirt it.

“And in that situation you try to handle it with a zero check or something – first time bringing zero all game – or just take the sack. It might be one of those times just to take the sack. It might be one of those times just to take the sack. So one of a lot of things I can learn from from this game.”

BryMakThe play combined the two issues facing Levis since he came into the league: Decision-making and accuracy. He can’t decide to throw it away there if he is inaccurate in doing so. Brian Callahan has talked about Levis mastering the mundane, being more patient and not forcing things.

He did fine with all that in the first half, when there wasn’t much exciting about how the Titans built their 17-0 lead, but they were in full control of the game.

But after intermission, they had four first downs, 65 net yards, 37 through the air and 2.24 per play.

Callahan emphasized Levis is still young with things he’s got to experience and learn in games and needs help from play calling. He was missing his key target for all but 15 of 61 offensive plays. The Titans are easing the receiver back in as he returns from a torn left MCL that cost him the entire month of August.

“I thought we came out and played how we wanted to in the first half other than the first drive,” Callahan said. “We just didn’t have anything in the second half, couldn’t get going, couldn’t get the run game going, got behind the sticks, has sacks and penalties all kind of issues. Couldn’t keep drives alive, weren’t good on third down. Lots for us to clean up and try to get better.”

A failure to find an offensive rhythm, committing untimely penalties and the inability to counter when a defense adjusted were Titans hallmarks under two years of Todd Downing and one of Tim Kelly as offensive coordinator.

Surely Callahan will have much better days than this, but for this game he felt like an extension of them even as he has a better roster.

He said the Bears pressured more on first and second down in the final 30 minutes and showed some different fronts. The Titans knew those things were coming, they just didn’t match their opponent’s execution. 

“We were in get-back-on-track spots for a lot of the game, that was really frustrating, we were just not getting enough efficiency from the run game, that’s a good run front, they were the No. 1 D against the run last year for a reason,” Callahan said. “But I thought we’d be better than we were in this game. And that led to a lot of issues we had. We couldn’t get anything positive going for stretches and that really made it difficult.”

The Bears were just waiting for the Titans' play-action shots as big plays which made them especially hard to find, which they did not.

“There are games where it’s hard and you’re trying to find something that you can manufacture some positive yards (with),” Callahan said.

It's nice they can offer a lot of compliments to the defense, which played well. 

It doesn’t matter. There is no column in the standings for a defensive win. 

Callahan ticked off what amounted to 17 gifted points: The blocked put for a 21-yard TD, the interception return for 7 points and a 667-yard kickoff return by DeAndre Carter that set up a Bears’ field goal.

“We just handed them points,” he said. “In a game like that, that is going to be a little bit of a defensive battle, we have to make sure we don’t make those mistakes. Those mistakes were critical and they were killer… To me that’s the story.

“…We didn’t bounce back the way I think we’re capable of. I would have liked to have seen a little more response from our team in that spot. Just got to keep getting better.”

The Titans had 13 series in the game: Five three-and-outs and one that lasted four plays. Their final eight offensive series of the game included one or no first downs. 

“That’s bad ball,” Levis said. 

“We could not play offense the way we wanted to, Callahan said. “And it led to some significant struggles.”

Do we see a livelier offense against the Jets who travel to Nashville on Sunday on short rest? If we don't, the same old questions are going to be bouncing around again and again.