2024 Week 1: Titans 17, Bears 24

It’s only fitting that my first game review is on one of my favorite teams this year, and of course they happen to blow a 17 point lead, giving up 24 unanswered points. This game was a tale of two halves for the Titans offense, and it mostly falls on the offensive line. In the first half the O-line was good, started to falter a bit pass blocking in the second quarter but was good enough. The second half the line had fallen apart and the Bears were pressuring Levis on almost every throw. The run blocking stayed strong.

Another game that could have gotten out of hand, after exchanging two pairs of punts each, we got flashes of the old Tony Pollard slicing through the defense for nice gains of 7, 14, 7, and a 26 yard touchdown run. Chicago responded to this score by muffing the kickoff, Titans are held to another 3-and-out, third of the game now, and go up 10-0. At the end of the half Titans were up 17-3 and looked like they may take over this game on their first drive of the second half.

Levis then overthrows Ridley on a would-be touchdown, and Chicago’s defense takes hold of the game. A bunch of low probability plays like a blocked punt returned for a TD shifted the dynamic of this game. A few more turnovers leading to a field goal and a pick-six by Tyrique Stevenson put the Titans away.

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QB Report:

- The first overall pick from this year's draft also played in this game, though watching him play you wouldn’t think that was the case. It’s tough to really say what Caleb Williams (14/29 for 93 yards, 0TD/0 INT, 5 runs for 15 yards) contributed to this game since he didn’t really do much of anything. In the first half he looked nervous, understandably, but was also unsure of his decisions, where to throw the ball, where the defenders were/weren’t. This was a tough matchup for him, going against L’Jarius Sneed (4 tackles) and Chidobe Awuzie (1 tackle).

Comparing this debut to the debuts of Richardson-Stroud-Levis-Young from last season, this was a Young-esc debut, not comparable to any of the other 3 main QBs from 2023. Those 3 were calm and confident from career snap #1. You almost have to be in the league today. 

The concerns I have about Williams were evident in this game, shaky in the pocket and looking for an excuse to get on the run. There was one throw I saw that looked like a professional quarterback threw it, and that was on the run, rolling right. His bread and butter. Other than that it was chock full of underthrows, and overthrows. In his defense, Keenan Allen(4-29-0/11) did drop a 5 to 6 yard touchdown pass that would have buoyed his statline a tad. 

I was already ‘out’ on Williams and this event just confirmed my thinking.

- Will Levis (19/32 for 127 yards, 1 TD/2 INTs, 4 runs for 36 yards) did not play the greatest game either. Both teams passing numbers are lower because of the overall strength of these defenses and primarily the secondaries. Levis was taking a few more shots than Williams in this one, and was lucky to not leave the game with at least two more INTs thrown. 

Levis, who I believe is an elite quarterback, didn't seem to be on the same page as any of his wide receivers. This is something I’ll have to watch more closely, but DeAndre Hopkins (1-8-0/1) returning to full health should help this air attack greatly.

Levis’s demeanor still looked like him, standing in the pocket confidently when given the opportunity, but their game plan was a lot of short passes to the outside or swinging it out to the running backs. 

A lot of the issues I saw with Levis can be accredited to their new o-line, they were fine in the run game. 10 QB hits, most dropbacks were under pressure, and was sacked 3 times. I’m not giving up on Will Levis just yet.

WR/TE Report:

- Keenan Allen had the most targets in this game with 11, but only managed to come down with 4 catches for 29 yards. Allen should have come away with a touchdown as well but dropped the goal line pass. While Allen was targeted a lot, most of them were not ‘quality’ targets, usually overhead on the deep balls and in the dirt when over the middle.

- DJ Moore (5-36-0/8) was targeted 8 times, caught 5 of them. The most impressive thing I saw from the Titans defense was how they limited yards after the catch, which is where DJM excels. DJM seems to be Williams’s favorite target, he will tend to be the easier throw and works better off-script than Odunze and Allen do.

- Rome Odunze (1-11-0/4) had 4 targets but nothing was being forced his way, just opportunistic throws. The two main looks will be Moore and Allen. His only catch was off a tipped pass.

- The Titans receivers didn’t get much work, and a lot of it wasn’t deep downfield. Calvin Ridley (3-50-0/7) was the main look for Levis downfield and looked fine, but most plays were designed to get the ball out quickly. Close to a 100-yard game if he and Levis were able to connect on a deep ball but it was overthrown and out of bounds.

- Tyler Boyd (3-18-0/5) and DeHop didn’t look right. Boyd was mailing it and Hopkins could be chalked up to his injuries. We’ll have to see more next week.

RB Report:

- Not much to talk about on the Chicago side of things, the Titans defense was swallowing everything up on the ground game. D’Andre Swift (10-30-0, 1 target) got 20 of his yards on one carry. 1.1ypc otherwise. This offense should have kept D’Onta Foreman and let him push his way through a tough d-line.

- Tony Pollard (16-82-1, 3 catches for 12 yards/4) started to look like the Tony Pollard we all remember from his days coming in for relief of Ezekiel Elliott back in Dallas. One of the reasons I’m bullish on this offense is because of what Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears (4-21-0, 4 catches for 11 yards/4) will be able to do. Both play similar styles which makes it easier for the offense to keep running how they want to, and harder for the defense as they can’t key-in on a run or pass based solely on the back.

Pollard and Spears combined for 25% of the target share in this game and just over 1/3rd of the receptions, this will likely remain steady as the offense plays easier competition. This tandem is a focal point of the offense.

- Callahan said he wants this to be more of a 50/50 split after the game but I doubt that.

D/ST and Miscellaneous notes:

- The Titans defense played a very nice game, suffocating the Chicago offense holding them to under 200 total yards. Sneed and Awuzie are as strong a duo as I had hoped and will cause opposing quarterbacks problems all year long. What was also nice to see from the Titans defense was their run defense, only allowing 3.8 ypc. 

Tough to tell if this is an up and coming defense or of it was just Caleb Williams being bad. We’ll learn more in the coming weeks.

- The Chicago defense was able to get the turnovers/scores and held Levis in check all game, the run game got to them a little bit but not enough to ruin the game. This Bears defense is as advertised.

- Amani Hooker (6 Tackles, 2 PD, 1 QB hit) and Harold Landry (6 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 2 QB hits) played everywhere in this game, being disruptive in the running and passing game. This is a very strong secondary the Titans have built alongside Sneed and Awuzie.

Similar to Hooker and Landry, Jaylon Johnson (3 tackles, 2 TFL, 2 PD,1 INT) was also everywhere in this game, and was able to add on an INT at the end of the game. Johnson is one of the best defenders in the league and does not get anywhere near the respect he deserves.

- The Bears punt/kick returner DeAndre Carter (1-6-0/2) had an amazing game, returning his one kickoff for 67 yards setting up the first Chicago field goal, and 5 punt returns for 64 yards on top of that.