The day that Chicago Bears fans have been waiting for nearly five months is nearly upon them: the debut of their new franchise quarterback Caleb Williams. All the hype, anticipation, and optimism will finally be tested against a reconstructed Tennessee Titans team. The Bears did their best to surround Williams with WR Keenan Allen, WR Rome Odunze, RB D'Andre Swift, OL Ryan Bates, and TE Gerald Everett.
Whether the wait for the "Chosen One" will be worth it will take some time, but we will finally get some indications of where his career can go from the start. With a newly revamped offense and a substantially better defense after the Montez Sweat trade, there is again faith that the Bears could have sustained success and make it back to playoffs for the first time since 2020.
Date: Sunday, September 8
Start Time: Noon CDT
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Stadium: Soldier Field
TV Info: FOX (Broadcasters: Adam Amin and Mark Sanchez)
Bears Uniform Info: Navy Jersey, White Pants
Tennessee Titans Stats (From 2023)
Points Per Game: 17.9 (27th)
Points Allowed Per Game: 21.6 (16th)
Offensive Yards Per Game: 289.0 Yards (28th)
Passing/Rushing Yards Per Game: 180.4 Yards Per (29th) and 108.6 Yards Per (17th)
Defensive Yards Allowed Per Game: 335.1 Yards (18th)
Passing/Rushing Yards Allowed Per Game: 227.4 Yards Per (18th) and 107.7 Yards Per (13th)
Third Down Offensive/Defensive Conversion Rate: 33.4% (28th) and 38.5% (18th)
Red Zone Offensive/Defensive Conversion Rate: 47.9% (28th) and 37.7% (1st)
Penalties: 110 (27th)
Penalty Yardage: 882 Yards (24th)
Players Already Ruled Out Before Sunday
Titans: Otis Reese IV (LB), Jamal Adams (SS)
Bears: Zacch Pickens (DT)
Tennessee Titans
Defense
The Titans brought in a ton of talent on the defensive side of the ball this off-season. They attempted to fix a leaky secondary by trading and paying former Chiefs corner L’Jarius Sneed, picking up former Seahawks safety Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs, former Cowboys, and Bengals cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, and drafted corner Jarvis Brownlee Jr. out of Louisville in the 5th-round. After the Titans' struggles in the secondary, a full overhaul was needed, especially with a new head coach and defensive coordinator in tow.
The Titans' defensive line and edge was a massive strength a season ago, with the trio of Denico Autry, Harold Landry, and Jeffrey Simmons combining for 27.5 sacks, despite Simmons being limited to just 12 games due to injury. To replace Autry, who signed with the rival Houston Texans, the Titans also went out and signed former Rams and Chargers lineman Sebastian Joespeh-Day and then drafted former Texas nose tackle T'Vondre Sweat in the second round.
The complete rebuild of the Titans' defense didn't stop at linebacker either, with Kennth Murray Jr. and Ernest Jones being brought in after losing Azeez Al-Shaair to the Texans. Murray was a first-round pick by the Chargers back in 2020, racking up 321 tackles in his four seasons, but his injury history and lack of high-end production caused LA to decline his fifth-year option, sending him to free agency. Tennessee scooped up Jones in a bargain trade with the Rams, only sending a 2026 fifth-round selection back, while also receiving a 2026 sixth-rounder. Jones is coming off a breakout season after being drafted in the third round of the 2021 draft, racking up 145 total tackles, 4.5 sacks and six passes defended.
2nd-year GM Ran Carthon took a lot of big swings this off-season to completely shake up the Titans' defense to support star pass rushers, Jeffery Simmons and Harold Landry. They will be in for a tough task going up against a star-studded group of position players for the Bears' offense, but it will be a good test to see if any of these moves were the right one for this new look Tennessee defense.
Offense
King Henry is officially gone after eight seasons with the Titans, heading to Baltimore to try and win a Super Bowl with Lamar Jackson. Henry ended his tenure as the 2nd All-Time leading rusher in Titans history with 9,502 yards (only behind Eddie George with 10,009 yards), No. 1 in rushing touchdowns with 90, and the most average yards per carry by a running back with 4.7. While there is no replacing the production Henry had as the bell-cow running back, the Titans did bring in former Cowboys running back Tony Pollard to pair with 2023 third-round pick Tyjae Spears. Pollard has run for over 1,000 yards the last two seasons, but his yards per carry dropped hard once he was made the No. 1 back over Ekeziel Elliot, going from 5.2 yards per in 2022 (193 attempts) to 4.0 yards per in 2023 (252 attempts). Spears and Pollard will both provide a solid security blanket for second-year quarterback Will Levis in check-down scenarios, with each of them racking up over 300 yards receiving last year.
However, that wasn't the only big move the Titans made on offense as they added two former 1,000-yard receivers Tyler Boyd from the Bengals and former Jaguars receiver Calvin Ridley. Ridley signed a four-year $92 million deal to move on from Duvall and will be the new WR 1 next to Deandre Hopkins and Boyd. Former first-round pick Treylon Burks now moves to WR 4 heading into his third season out of Arkansas. Much like the Bears did with Caleb Williams this off-season, the Titans' main goal was to give Levis plenty of weapons and opportunity to prove he could be the new franchise quarterback. As I mentioned in my quarterbacks ranking article on Friday, there are signs that Levis could be the guy moving forward, especially with his four-touchdown debut last season. Despite that promise, there is still much he needs to do to prove he can be because, in his final seven games, he threw just four touchdowns and four interceptions and completed less than 60% of his passes. If Levis can be somewhere in the middle of those extremes, he can be a solid starting quarterback for years to come and it will start against a defense that finished as a top-10 unit.
Chicago Bears
Defense
What a difference one player can make. After being one of the worst defenses in the league before the acquisition of Montez Sweat, the Chicago Bears defense finished as a top-10 unit in the league, helping turn around a horrid 2-6 start into a 7-10 finish. Sweat became the first player in league history to lead two teams in sacks for a whole season, with Sweat racking up six for the Bears, and 6.5 for the Commanders. The defensive line looks relatively the same, except that they will be relying on second-year DT Gervon Dexter to be the new No. 1 to replace Justin Jones who signed with the Arizona Cardinals. It was a slow start for Dexter to begin his career, not recording a single stat in three of his first nine games, and didn't even record a single tackle for loss all season. Yet like the rest of the Bears defense, he improved after the arrival of Sweat, recording 2.5 sacks in four of his last five games, with 1.5 in Week 17 against the Atlanta Falcons. Dexter will be paired with Andrew Billings who was one of the more consistent players for the Bears after signing a one-year $2.75 million deal with Chicago in the 2023 off-season. He was rewarded for his efforts with a new two-year $8.5 million extension in November of last season.
DeMarcus Walker returns as the other edge rusher next to Sweat, but the rotation behind those two looks vastly different. During the pre-season, the Bears traded for Darrell Taylor from the Seattle Seahawks who has put up 21.5 sacks in three seasons, including 9.5 in 2022. Chicago also drafted former Kansas edge rusher Austin Booker, who has flashed some serious pass-rushing chops in the pre-season and added former Rams 7th-round pick Daniel Hardy, who led the league in pre-season sacks with 3.5. To finish out the front seven, the Bears return one of the best linebacking cores in the league with Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Edwards, and Jack Sanborn. Not much needs to be said about the type of seasons they had, with Edmunds and Edwards arguably being the best linebacking duo in the league.
The biggest news out of the Bears' secondary was the status of former 2nd-rounder Jaylon Johnson coming back to the Bears before free agency hit. Luckily for Matt Eberflus, GM Ryan Poles got the deal done, signing him for 4-years at $76 million and $51.4 guaranteed. Johnson will lead a group of young promising corners in Kyler Gordon and Tyrique Stevenson. Gordon locked down the nickel corner spot throughout the year and as the season wore on, Stevenson got better and better. There is one big change though, as the Bears let go of long-time safety Eddie Jackson (who signed with the Ravens) to sign former Eagles and Titans safety Kevin Byard. While he didn't have the All-Pro season that he's had in the past, Byard will be an automatic upgrade over Jackson in coverage and in the tackling department, which became the ire of many Bears fans when it came to the former Alabama safety in Jackson. This Bears secondary will be tested with a strong group of receivers for the Titans, but with another year under this defensive scheme, I believe they are up to the challenge.
Offense
Talk about reshaping an offense. The Bears finally ended the Justin Fields experiment once they got the No. 1 pick, sending him to Pittsburgh to now be the backup to Russell Wilson. The new man under center is former Heisman winner Caleb Williams. I have talked in depth about the potential Williams has and the supporting cast he will be working with in Chicago this season. He flashed both the good and the bad that could come in his rookie season, but despite what Bill Belichick says, it's hard to gauge what Williams will do once the season starts. He will have his growing pains, but I believe that his immense talent will shine through and be a substantial upgrade over Fields.
Chicago has a stable of running backs at their disposal, with D'Andre Swift, Khalil Herbert, and Roschon Johnson. There won't be a bell-cow running back per se, but I would expect Swift to get the majority of the carries, whatever that percentage ends up being at the end of the season.
The main attraction comes in the Bears wide receiver room with two new additions Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze to pair with D.J. Moore. Moore had a spectacular season with Fields at the helm, going for over 1,300 yards and 90 catches, and will not be the only Bears wide receiver with over 500 yards. Allen is a decorated NFL vet, who has had over 1,000 yards in six of his 11 seasons in the league, including 1,243 yards and seven touchdowns last year with the Chargers. Odunze will be an incredible third wide receiver who finished his college career with 1,640 yards and 13 touchdowns in his senior season.
Betting Info
Points Spread: CHI -3.5 (-110) | TEN +3.5 (+150)
Moneyline: CHI (-180) | TEN (+150)
Over/Under: O 44.5 (-113) | U 46.5 (-115)
Lines via DraftKings as of Friday, September 6
Keenan Allen will be Caleb Williams' favorite security blanket out of the slot and will be a reception merchant. Right now his line is set at 4.5 receptions for this one, and while he will be more relied upon in the No. 2 receiver role, still expect him to get a lion's share of the targets. In the 13 games Allen played, he only caught less than that line once in Week 4 against the Raiders. In his last game against the Titans, Allen caught eight passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns.
Prediction
While both of these quarterbacks have a lot to prove heading into 2024, Chicago has a head and shoulders better roster than Tennessee. I think this is finally the time where a No. 1 overall quarterback finally wins in their debut in what will be a raucous Solider Field crowd, with some Caleb Willams heroics.
Final Score: Bears 27, Titans 20
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