Bears and Titans In-Game Blog

Fourth Quarter

Bralen Trahan clinches it with an interception of Levis, who had been put back into the lineup by the Titans. Final, Bears 23, Titans 17
Low punt by Trenton Gill and the Titans get it at the Bears 43 with 31 seconds remaining.
Roschon Johnson with the unpardonable mistake of running out of bounds on third down short of the sticks by a foot. Failing to get the first down and letting the clock run would have been preferable.
Linebacker Barrington Wade, a Chicago area native, bats the ball away in the end zone on a throw to Gavin Holmes and ends the threat. Bears have 1:30 to kill. Wade wearing the unlikely jersey of 17 for a linebacker.
Harris and D'Anthony Jones flushed Willis out and forced an incompletion just when he had a receiver coming open, then Harris grabbed Willis as he threw and he had to throw it away. Harris is the son of former Bears linebacker Sean Harris and an undrafted free agent.
Tennessee facing second-and-8 at the Bears 10.
Titans' Zack Johnson held on a first-down run. That's a tough penalty to overcome at that point of the field but the Titans did it. Williams to Tre'Shaun Harrison to the 12-yard line on a slant. No one in the secondary was home. The safeties, Kendall Williamson and Bralen Trahan, were back too far and cornerback left the receiver to go outside.
A third-down completion of 25 yards Willis to Kearis Jackson put the Titans at the Bears 39 and then a slant to Gavin Holmes put them 14 yards closer with clock inside three minutes.
Travis Bell and Bravvion Roy at the DT spots. Bell is three technique and his second-down tackle for loss put the Titans in a passing situation.
That drive was a disaster. Three penalties and now a punt will give Titans a chance at the win again. It was the first time all game their execution was off for a period of time but came with the third/fourth team players on the field.
Gabe Houy flagged for holding, puts the drive in a hole right off the bat. Now back at their own 19.
Two rookies, Travis Bell and Jalen Harris, both with sacks to kill off a Titans drive and get the ball back for the Bears with 6:15 remaining at their own 29.
Defensive players at the bottom of the roster are in for the Bears and will get tested as Willis returned.
After a sack, Santos is left with a 49-yard field goal and makes it with 9:34 remaining. A 10-play, 31-yard drive. They had momentum but Tennessee stopped Johnson on a pair of runs and snuffed it out. Observation: Johnson needs to get his pad level down more when he runs.

A few times he spun at the line or cut at the line and was straight up with a defender in his face. If his pads were lower he could have driven forward for a yard or 2 but got snuffed out on both plays. Bears 23, Titans 17

Bears tackle Aviante Collins walking off gingerly after a Roschon Johnson pitch play lost yardage. The play stood and Bears have first down at the 19. Bagent put that on the outside shoulder perfectly. He probably could have zipped it a little more because defenders got back when the ball floated.

Bears facing fourth-and-7 at Titans 43 and will go for it. Doubtful they would do that in the regular season. Bagent floated one in perfectly to wide open Daurice Fountain for 25 yards and the first down at Titans 19. But Tennesee challenged it.Wide right on a 48-yard field goal try for Trey Wolff and Bears have put in rookie Tyson Bagent at QB

Third Quarter

The Thor celebration is back as Gipson sacks Levis for no gain.
Lots of work left for the Bears offensive linemen. The first team looked sharp but backups have been spotty. They got Peterman sacked to help end the last drive.A 29-yard field goal by Santos puts the Bears up 20-17 with 3:56 left in third quarter, ending a nine-play drive.Travis Homer with two nifty runs, using his blocking well. He picked up a first down on the 17-yard line. Blocking was much better by backup line, as well.Titans defensive lineman Shakel Brown taken off on a cart after being injured on the long completion.Levis returned for a three-and-out and the Bears went with Tyler Scott to return the punt. The Bears then struck quickly as Peterman hit wide receiver Isaiah Ford on a go-route for 37 yards to the Titans 29.
Santos' 28-yard field goal ties it to end a nine-play, 50-yard drive. A 15-yard pass from Peterman to Nsimba Webster at the 14 set it up. Bears 17, Titans 17
Roschon Johnson just gave Bears fans a taste of what he's all about. Ran through two tackles and then up the sidelines for 24 yards to get offense into field goal range.
Josh Peterman in at quarterback to start second half. Had not practiced Thursday but apparently all is well. Only Tyson Bagent hasn't played at QB so far now.

Second Quarter

Willis 11 of 17 for 102 yards in the first half. Fields went out 3 of 3 for 129 yards, two TDs and a perfect 158.3 passer rating.
Once the teams stopped turning the ball over, offense followed. Willis drove the Titans to the Bears 23 against the backups with three seconds left on short passes and Caleb Shudak hit a 41-yard field goal to end the half. A 60-yard drive on nine plays over 1:08. Titans 17, Bears 14
Gipson with late heat knocks down Willis and forces an incompletion. Gipson not taking being demoted to third or fourth team lightly. He's been getting good pressure.
Tyler Scott lost a fumble on a slant. Shyheim Carter knocked it loose. Titans ball at their own 17. So much for a chance at a Bears lead.
Lewis with a strip sack from behind of Willis and Zacch Pickens recovered it at the Titans 37 with 1:26 to play, so the Bears have a chance at the lead before halftime.
There is someone in the stands with a whistle who keeps blowing it and officials haven't done anything to deal with it.
Stevenson flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on a completion short of the sticks. He went to the head as the receiver went out of bounds apparently.
Noah Sewell with a sack of Willis for a yard loss back to the 9. Titans went back to Willis with the ball backed up and 2:00 left in the half.
A pass interference call when Tre Avery tried to run through Velus Jones to get the ball provided a first down but the running game continues to struggle. Trestan Ebnber smeared on second down. Then Roschon Johnson got a screen but had defenders on his back already when he was fielding it. The Bears had to punt. The backup O-line with Larry Borom, Kramer, Alex Leatherwood,, Ja'Tyre Carter and Aviante Collins need to pick up the pace.
Second-team Bears line having trouble moving defense off the ball. Then second-year center Doug Kramer, the former Illini, gets called for a hold.
Josh Whyle fumbles on a hit by Adrian Colbert and Colbert then recovers. Play went to review and officials say it's the Bears' ball at their own 40.
Trevis Gipson coming off the right side of D-line nearly sacks Levis but he scrambles within a yard of the first down. Gipson had been playing only the other side of the line in the past but the Bears have put him on both sides.
Tyrique Stevenson with his third strong play of the half, this a 3-yard loss on a tackle when they threw a wide receiver screen. But then tehy get behind him on third down for a first down pass of 21 yards.
After a Velus Jones catch and first down, the Bears failed to get the first down on a third-down completion to tight end Stephen Carlson and punted. So Levis took over at his 30 with 7:25 left in the half.

Hassan Haskins did a Walter Payton and dove over the top for a 1-yard TD to end a 31-yard, six-play scoring drive. Terrell Lewis jumped offsides to help them on third-and-goal. Running game did the damage on that drive. The Bears defensive interior had trouble handling the Titans on the interior. Titans 14, Bears 14
All subs on both sides now.
Game of ping pong. Tre Avery intercepts P.J. Walker in for Fields. Titans have it at the Bears 31. He overthrew Equanimeous St. Brown badly on a deep ball, play-action.
A.J. Thomas bails out Jones. On the first play, Levis had Josh Whyle, a tight end, wide open in the middle of the field and overthrew him. It hit Whyle's hand and flew into the end zone where Thomas, a backup safety, intercepted int.
Velus Jones Jr. let the first punt he was back to field hit the ground, then the second one he let thit the ground and was hit as he grabbed it, losing the fumble. The Titans have it at the Bears 25 first down. It's just as everyone thought. Time to end the Velus Jones punt return experiment.

First Quarter

Another big special teams stop on a return and strong pass defense and the Titans are punting from near their own goal line as the quarter ends. Big plays on that series from Elijah Hicks tol limit a completion to a yard and Michael Ojemudia to break up a pass. Bears 14, Titans 7

Khalil Herbert in the passing game was supposed to be something to watch as he has worked at it. He took a short flip from a scrambling Fields and went all the way, breaking a tackle inside the 10 finally to get into the end zone. A 56-yard TD pass play. Bears 14, Titans 7
Bears have subs in on defense and rookie Zacch Pickens makes his presence felt with a third-down, 8-yard sack of Levis. Didn't give up the rush when he got caught up in the traffic inside and emerged behind Levis. Nice celebration afterward for the former South Carolina Gamecocks player.

Will Levis has come into the game now at QB for the Titans. The first-round pick from Kentucky. He completed an 8-yarder on his first attempt.Jaylon Jones had supposedly dropped to fourth string on the depth chart but he got down with Roschon Johnson and made the tackle on the kick at the 17.

The Fields-to-DJ Moore connection produces a touchdown on its very first in-game attempt. A short swing pass to the left and Moore outraces everyone 62 yards for a touchdown. How's that for helping Fields? They did do it against backup Tennessee defensive backs. Teven Jenkins had an excellent downfield block on the play. Bears 7, Titans 7

Fields to FB Khari Blasingame nets 11. They threw only once to him last year the entire season. Excellent play by him to get outside and to the sideline. The Titans scored on a 12-play drive when Malik Willis scrambled in from the 2 on third-and-goal. He had scrambled for a first down to the 3 before that on third down from the 10. The secondary did a solid job defending the pass but not coming up after Willis, who really isn't that fast in the open field. Titans 7, Bears 0

It's apparent Kyler Gordon brought his A-game to preseason. After knocking the ball loose earlier in the drive when officials ruled it down on contact, he hit Chris Moore on a short pass and jolted it out. Tyrique Stevenson recovered it. A replay showed Moore bobbled it first and the incompletion was upheld. One thing Gordon talked at camp about was that he liked the slot because he gets to be more physical. He is backing that up so far.The defense and its revamped line failed its first third-and-short test and gave up a 6-yard run to the Bears 30. Tyjae Spears then burned them for a 13-yard run to the 15 around end. Kyler Gordon delivered a huge blindside hit on the first play and it forced a fumble but two problems on it. Receiver ruled down and it was already a 30-yard completion. Not the way to start out a preseason for the Bears defense, getting burned right asway by QB Malik Willis.

Titans won the toss and will receive.

Pregame

Game temp 77 degrees, 6 mph wind from the south.
Full group of running backs today for the Bears. There had been some question whether Travis Homer would be available but he is.
The field condition appears fine. It's always an issue at Soldier Field when the Bears are playing in preseason after the Fire and after Swift concerts and other concerts and various uses of the stadium in summer and spring.
There are no "inactives" announced for preseason games but the Bears would have a long list of them if they did. Not expecting Tremaine Edmunds, DeMarcus Walker or any of the players who have been hurt and watching this past week.

Bears kicker Cairo Santos, the former Tennessee Titans kicker, connected from 57 yards in pregame warmups heading toward the south end zone, right after hitting from 54 yards. Who says he can't make long kicks?

Where are you drafting @justnfields in @NFLFantasy this year?

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joj

SI's ALBERT BREER ON WHAT BEARS LEARNED FROM LAST YEAR'S LOSSES

khigh

The #DaBears plan on playing their healthy starters today. That includes QB Justin Fields - the hope is that he and the starters will go one series if it’s a clean operation. Possibly a second series. pic.twitter.com/UUkYNGw5Rz
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