Immediate Payoff for Bears

The Bears got Justin Fields more weapons in the off-season and in Saturday's first preseason game it made a big difference right away.

Fields found DJ Moore on a short wide receiver screen that broke for a 62-yard touchdown, then on the next Bears possession flipped a short third-and-8 pass that Khalil Herbert turned into a 56-yard TD.

The Bears were off and running to a 23-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans.

"I don't think I've ever seen that in a first preseason game," Bears coach Matt Eberflus said about two fast TDs on breakaway plays. "It's a credit to the offense."

Fields departed after going 3-for-3 for 129 yards with two TDs and a perfect 158.3 passer rating. He actually wished he had played longer than two series but the Bears were just too efficient.

"We kind of had a set plan seven to 10 plays," Fields said. "The first two drives you can't really draw it up much better than that.

"So I think we did what we needed to do today and we're just going to get back to practice on Monday and continue to practice and continue to get better."

Fields' first TD pass was the one to his new weapon and Moore caught it on their third play, stepped inside, then raced for the TD untouched until the goal line. The Cairo Santos PAT tied it 7-7.

"The first one went 60 yards to him," Fields said. "You can't really draw it up better. That's awseome. I told him that might be legendary right there.

So that was exciting."

The second score broke the tie on their next possession. It was supposed to be a screen to Herbert but a blitz caused Fields to step outside the pocket.

The timing was disrupted and Herbert was in the open. Fields merely flipped him the ball and Herbert piled up yards after the catch, going untouched until the 10-yard line and then breaking a tackle to get in the end zone.

"Any time you can get the ball to playmakers, where you can throw the ball 5 yards on a slant and they can take it 60 yards, that makes my job easier," Fields said. "That makes the O-line's job easier."

Cairo Santos and a Bears defense that kept the heat on Tennessee quarterbacks Malik Willis and Will Levis actually won the game because the Bears trailed 17-14 at halftime after a 41-yard Caleb Shudak field goal.

Santos made field goals of 28 and 29 yards in the third quarter and 49 in the fourth quarter.

The Bears piled up eight sacks, including two by Terrell Lewis, 1 1/2 by rookie Jalen Harris, one each by Trevis Gipson, Micah Baskerville, Noah Sewell, Zacch Pickens and half a sack by Travis Bell.

A.J. Thomas made an interception at the goal line to prevent a tying Titans TD in the second quarter, Barrington Wade knocked down a fourth-down pass for the win in the final two minutes and then Bralen Trahan sealed the win with an interception in the final 20 seconds.

The defense forced three fumbles, as well.

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