Bear Digest

Bears Defense and Special Teams Carry Caleb Williams to Win

The Bears rookie struggled to get in rhythm but a blocked punt return and two interceptions keyed a comeback from a 17-0 deficit for a 24-17 win over Tennessee.

Gene Chamberlain

Jaylon Johnson picks off a Will Levis throw with just over a minute left and the Bears clinched a 24-17 comeback win.
Jaylon Johnson picks off a Will Levis throw with just over a minute left and the Bears clinched a 24-17 comeback win. / David Banks-Imagn Images
In this story:

The theme heading into the season for the Bears was getting Caleb Williams to rely on his teammates to do their job and so he did.

No one else was getting that job done for a half against the Tennessee Titans in the opener, and neither was Williams.

Then it began happening suddenly, after a spark provided on a 31-yard blocked punt return touchdown by Jonathan Owens, and the Bears found a way to win 24-17 with 148 net yards of offense and only 93 yards passing from Williams.

"I would say, offensive play, obviously we didn't perform how we wanted to," Williams said. "We want to be the most efficient team out there, myself included. Didn't perform the way that I wanted to. I missed a few passes that I normally don't miss."

It all resembled the classic 2006 win over Arizona when the Bears were "who they thought they were," except there was no Denny Green to lament letting the Bears off the hook. The win let Williams become the first No. 1 overall quarterback drafted to win his starting debut since 2002.

Chicago overcame a 17-0 deficit in the first half, a 17-3 deficit in the third quarter, mainly with pass defense, a pass rush and takeaways after their defense had been on its heels the full first half against Tennessee's running game.

They held the Titans were held to 65 total second-half yards and the Bears began taking the ball away.

The comeback started after Cairo Santos' second-quarter field goal shaved the deficit to 17-3. Daniel Hardy, one of the last players on the roster, blocked Ryan Stonehouse's punt from the Titans' 33 and the ball bounced right in front of Owens, who scooped and scored. It was their first blocked punt return TD in a decade.

"Pretty much we had a rush going and I'm rushing and I'm getting ready to cover with a guy and I hear the ball getting blocked so I just looked and the ball is bouncing and there's guys around me," said Owens. "God works in mysterious ways. It was a perfect bounce right into my hands."

They cut the deficit to 17-13 early in the fourth quarter on Santos' 50-yard field goal, and he was kicking a 48-yarder five minutes later with 9:57 left after Darrell Taylor's strip sack led to a T.J. Edwards fumble recovery at the Titans 31.

Levis then threw an ill-advised flip while in the grasp of DeMarcus Walker on what looked to be a third-down sack and the ball went right to Tyrique Stevenson along the sidelines, and he took it back 43 yards for the winning points. Williams threw a two-point conversion pass after Stevenson's return.

Jaylon Johnson clinched it with an interception on fourth down with a minute left.

"The guys did a nice job in the second half," coach Matt Eberflus said. "Obviously blocking that punt was a big spark. Hardy did an awesome job with that and scooping it up by J.O., really a nice play with there. And then the defense put the three turnovers there in the fourth quarter, an excellent job there so one returned for a touchdown.

"I thought the first half the defense didn't play the run as well as we're used to but I did think in the second half we made some good adjustments and did a nice job that way."

Still, it left a bit of a bad taste that the offense looked so stagnant most of the game. They produced no offensive touchdowns, just the PAT and the three field goals. Williams was 16 of 27 but for only the 93 yards. They were fortunate that the defense held Levis to 19-of-32 for just 127 yards.

"Yeah, don't care about stats," Williams said. "I feel great. I'll be honest with you, I feel great. I understand that, obviously, the stats weren't where I want them to be and things like that because I want to go out there and perform to the best of my ability. I didn't do that today.

"We're going to get better tomorrow. We've got this little period where you take the next 15 hours or so, then you reset and get ready for Houston next week. We’re going to enjoy this win."

They were able to recover from Velus Jones Jr. muffing a kickoff, then kicking it right back to the Titans in the first half for what turned into a field goal.

The defense allowed Tony Pollard's 26-yard TD run and also a prodigious 8:23 drive in the second quarter to Chig Okonkwo's 17-yard TD catch. But after that, they did their jobs.

"It's about momentum at the end of the day," Jaylon Johnson said. "They struck fast, they got out to a 17-0 lead."

The Bears defense and special teams finished it, though.

Now it's up to the offense to find its way to avoid something terrible in Houston next Sunday night.

"That's the NFL for you," Williams said. "It's hard to win in this league. To have a team like this, to have an offense, defense, special teams, players, coaches, all these players here, it's the NFL. It's hard to win in this league.

"We're excited, but we've got a lot more to get better at, a lot more to progress, get ready for this week."

Twitter: BearsOnSI

Published
Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.