Winners and losers from Tennessee Titans' loss to Bears: Tony Pollard leads, passing attack fails

The Tennessee Titans went on the road and blew a big lead against the Chicago Bears in a 24-17 to open the 2024 NFL season on Sunday. The Bears' No. 1 draft pick, quarterback Caleb Williams, stumbled a bit early as the Titans ' defense got to him, but the Bears steadied themselves in the second half and rallied from a 17-3 halftime deficit. The Bears never scored an offensive touchdown — everything resulted from mistakes committed by Titans QB Will Levis and special teams..

Loser: The passing attack

So much for Will Levis starting off the season hot. The Titans' second-year quarterback couldn't get much of anything going downfield and struggled to sustain drives as his vaunted veteran receiving trio of DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd combined for just seven catches.

VOTE NOW: Vote here in The Tennessean poll: How many games will the Tennessee Titans win in 2024?

Levis' ugly pick-six while falling to his knees in the fourth quarter is a play that'll be hard to recover from, and Brian Callahan's first game leading the Titans' offense certainly didn't go as planned.

Will Levis, the new face of the Titans

Winner: The Titans' front seven

The Bears had virtually no success running against the Titans' rebuilt front, led by stalwart defensive tackles Jeffery Simmons and rookie T'Vondre Sweat. Reserve defensive tackle Keondre Coburn wrecked a couple of plays, including one pressure that led to Williams taking a 19-yard sack. Outside linebacker Harold Landry III looked refreshed and fast after struggling at times in 2023. More than anything, the Titans' front rendered the Bears' offense one-dimensional.

Loser: Offensive consistency

Sunday was an all-or-nothing day for Levis and the offense. Two long scoring drives spanned 79 and 73 yards. No other drive ended with the Titans gaining more than 11. The good drives were good, usually because of how Levis and the running game kept the Titans ahead of the sticks. But penalties, screens that never developed and general sloppiness in the passing game made it hard for the Titans to stay in rhythm.

Winner: Tony Pollard, RB1

For all the talk of Pollard and Tyjae Spears being used interchangeably, they pretty clearly weren't. The Titans used Pollard as their primary rusher, but also deployed him creatively as a slot target who was thrown passes over the middle and in the flats. Spears didn't play badly, but Pollard outplayed him enough to be considered the "starting running back," at least for now.

Loser: Ryan Stonehouse's peace of mind

It's a tough look for punter Stonehouse — in his first game back after suffering a season-ending knee injury on a blocked punt in December — to have a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown on a similar looking play. The Bears came right up the middle and took the ball off Stonehouse's foot, planting the punter on the ground and giving Chicago its first touchdown.

Winner: Amani Hooker, holding down the fort

With so much newness on this Titans defense, it's easy to overlook Amani Hooker's steady presence. But the veteran safety might've been their most productive defender Sunday, logging two pass breakups, a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry to go along with his six tackles, five solo.

Hooker isn't the biggest name in the secondary, but give him credit for his contributions as one of the few holdovers from the previous era keeping the Titans' defensive identity alive.

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com . Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Winners and losers from Tennessee Titans' loss to Bears: Tony Pollard leads, passing attack fails