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Bears Gifted Fourth Quarter Lead Thanks to Horrific Will Levis Interception

It was an incomprehensible decision from Levis.

Liam McKeone

Screenshot via the official NFL X (formerly Twitter) account
Screenshot via the official NFL X (formerly Twitter) account /
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The Week 1 matchup between the Chicago Bears and Tennessee Titans was not the prettiest of all the games on the opening Sunday slate. But there was lots of excitement, like a punt block return TD by Jonathan Owens. And a pick-six to give Chicago a fourth-quarter lead, courtesy of a mind-boggling INT by Will Levis.

The Titans led the Bears 17-3 after two quarters, but the wheels came off in the second half. Chicago recorded its punt block TD in the third quarter, and after a field goal in the fourth quarter trailed only 17-16. On third-and-six, Levis dropped back to pass, got flushed out of the pocket, and then disaster struck.

As he was being tackled, Levis decided to attempt a wild fling of a pass to a teammate. It was easily intercepted by the Bears, who ran it all the way back for seven points and the lead.

An absolute disaster of a decision. And remarkably it looks even worse from a different angle:

Woof. This is Levis's first season as the full-time starter after he started nine games in relief of Ryan Tannehill in 2023. So growing pains are expected, to a degree. But that is an inexcusable error in a high-leverage situation.

It ultimately cost the Titans the game. The Bears held onto their 24-17 lead and Levis threw one more pick late in the fourth to seal the loss.

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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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