Chicago Bears at Tennessee Titans Game Day Blog | Titans 24, Bears 17 FINAL

BearDigest.com's in-game comments and statistics from Sunday's Chicago Bears game at Nashville against the Tennesee Titans

Fourth Quarter

• Onside kick on a dropkick fails and Titans go in victory formation. Titans 24, Bears 17 FINAL

• Jimmy Graham with a late meaningless touchdown catch of 8 yards over the middle. Titans 24, Bears 17 with 1:04 left.

• Bears held Derrick Henry to 68 yards on 21 carries but couldn't come up with the win.

• Montgomery's injury was a concussion.  
• Another lost fumble, this one by Anthony Miller, seals the deal. Bears are off until Nov. 16 and need that extra day of time to sort out this COVID-19 mess.
• Bears force a three-and-out and use a couple timeouts Roquan Smith with a third-down open-field tackle.

• Nall with a 6-yard TD catch with 5:06 left. Titans 24, Bears 10

• Ryan Nall comes in for Montgomery, who left with an apparent shoulder injury after a 5-yard run. 

• A 30-yard pass to Jonnu Smith and and then a 2-yard flip to him for a touchdown with 8:10 left in the game. Titans 24, Bears 3

• Titans are basically doing what you have to do to a team with no offense. They got a lead and are simply content to hold it.

• Tennessee converts a big third down on a pass to Firkser for 12 yards.

• At the 50, Henry fails to gain with 11:15 left.

• Hicks misses a tackle on Henry and he gets  loose for the first time, 26 yards.

• Danny Trevathan takes coverage deep on Corey Davis and very nearly pulls away an interception on a deep incompletion.

• Foles pass is tipped and dropped on interception attempt and Bears will accept a chip-shot field goal of 22 yards. It's 12 straight field goals for Santos. Titans 17, Bears 3

• Passes to Ridley and Mooney get the Bears to the 4, but on the first two plays they get a busted play for no gain and Montgomery fails to gain on a run off left guard

Third Quarter

• First lost fumble of the year against the Bears. Montgomery on a screen and it's returned by Desmond King for a 63-yard touchdown.  Titans 17, Bears 0

• Screen to Graham and he waits too long to head upfield, gains only 3.. Third-and-13 for the Bears at the 30.

• Back at the 38, now and Foles is about to be sacked again but a flag was thrown and the Titans are called for offsides. Only second flag on Titans.

• Foles called for grounding it when he was about to be sacked. Second-and-23 now.

• Sack of Foles and then he steps into a throw for a first down to Riley Ridley for his first catch of the year cutting across at the 25. Excellent job of being ready for a pass coming out of his cut. An 18-yard gain on third-and-long.

• Bears right back where they were before when they fell apart and Foles is sacked on a blitz at midfield by Landry.

• Foles finds Mooney for 22 on the opposite side of the field from where he was looking. Good throw and catch to the Titans 39. Quick burst of 3 for Montgomery on the run off right guard.

• They finally get one to Robinson, his second one, and it's a first down on a 7-yarder.

• Foles trying to throw it away but doesn't. Instead he gets it to Mooney along the sidelines for a 7-yard gain.

• Now, if Nagy had opted for a field goal before they would be trying to drive for the tying touchdown. 9:54 left in third quarter.

• A runs top and incomplete slant knocked away by Jaylon Johnson and Bears defense has them facing third-and-9. Johnson nearly picks pass to Davis. Incomplete and Titans to punt.

• Henry for 7 on second down. Here it comes. The defense is starting to cave. But who can blame them?

• Henry runs for 5. The Bears are letting their defense wear down.

• Dumb decision by Matt Nagy to go for it. They have a kicker who made a 51-yarder into the wind and cold last week and they decide to go for it twice and get two false starts to punt. You can blame Hambright for a silly false start, but the decision not to kick a field goal down by 10 is the silliest thing. You have to take your point chances when you get them in this game.

• Bears for some reason aren't kicking a 47-yard field goal. So they line up and Graham false starts. They punt into the end zone in a complete disaster of a drive.

• From the 36 of Tennessee, Foles throws to Patterson on the scramble a few inches short of the first down. Bears line up to go for it but false start by Arlington Hambright kills their shot.

• Montgomery off left tackle for 4 on an RPO play.

• Miscommunication between Mooney and Foles and a near interception on first down from Titans 40.

• Miller gets open down the sideline for 34 yards, beats man coverage to the 40.

• Botched snap on first play from center Alex Bars. Patterson gets a panic handoff and loses 3.

•  Pooch kick leaves the Bears with the ball at the 29.

Halftime

• Foles 10 of 17 for 85 yards. Barkevious Mingo leads the Bears in rushing with 11 yards. They have 26 yards rushing and Montgomery is their third-leading rusher.

Second Quarter

• Third down as clock is running out at the 50. Half ends. Titans 10, Bears 0

• Mooney gets 7 on a flip over the middle with the clock running.

• A 6-yard pass to Robinson and it looked like Allen was hit with a blow to the helmet but the Bears are called for illegal use of hands on Coward. 

• Charles Leno with the false start on first down. That's about the only thing they've done well on offense until now.

• Another booming punt and Harris makes a good return to save some yardage. The Bears are at the Titans 48. Nifty grab on the run of a hopping ball by Harris.

• Third-down conservative call and Henry is stuffed by Akiem Hicks to force a punt from deep in the end zone with a minute, seven left and no timeouts.

• Held Henry to 1 on first down, then Bilal Nichols busts through and throws down Tannehill for a sack at the 2. Third-and-17.

• Another O'Donnell punt OB at the 9. The last one down there was quickly turned into a 91-yard TD drive.

• They pick up a few yards on a pass to Patterson and will punt. With 2 first downs still we've hit the 2-minute warning.

• Montgomery on a draw loses 2 more yards. Third-and-18. This has no chance no. You're down 10 and there is no way to pass block. Maybe a quick kick?

• After a good pickup on a pass to Graham, Foles is sacked as the pass blocking completely falls apart. Rashaad Coward guilty on this one.

• Buster Skrine beaten by A.J. Brown for a 40-yard touchdown pass down the sidelines. Looks like his knee hit before the goal line. A perfectly thrown pass with Skrine in tight coverage. Replay won't overturn it. No real good angle on the knee. Titans 10, Bears 0

• Tennesee facing fourth third down of this drive, third-and-2.

• Tannehill from the Bears 48 nearly sacked by Mack, but scrambles forward for 5.

• Tight end Anthony Firkser catches one over the middle for a first down.

• Brent Urban hits Tannehill as he throws and it goes incomplete. Third-and-7. Titans have 4 first downs and Bears 2.

• D'Onta Foreman's 3-yard run and play is stopped for a Titans injury to Roger Saffold.

• Great tackle by Buster Skrine off the slot for a loss of a half yard. Then on third-and-6. Brown gets open over the middle and catches a 17-yard pass on third down to the 40.

• No huddle and Henry gets 4 off left guard/tackle

• Henry gets 6 up the middle, then 2 off right tackle. The Bears have to keep this field position edge. Henry is stopped on forward motion but falls forward and is given the first down at the 20.

• Bears get a bad spot on the run and it's third-and-2 and Titans stuff a running play. So Bears will punt from midfield. O'Donnell the Bears MVP today punts and it's fair caught at the 9.

• Montgomery slogs forward for 2 on first down.  Half of Bears rushing came on Mingo's run. A 7-yard toss to Patterson. Another one where he could have had the sticks but went out of bounds.

• Barkevious Mingo takes a handoff from DHC on a fake punt and runs around end for the first down. Gain of 11.  Bears are so excited they have to burn a timeout before running the next play, apparently.  

• No one open and pass rush closes on Foles so he throws it away near Miller. 

• Bears get a 4-yard pass to Jimmy Graham on first down, the yardage all on his lunge forward. A slant to Robinson goes incomplete and is well covered.

• Dwayne Harris steps out of bounds on punt return and for some reason the Titans get rough with him along the sidelines. No penalty.

• Roquan Smith coming on the blitz and gets the sack right up the middle. Bears force a punt. They brought Danny Trevathan too on a delay blitz.

• Defense is doing a decent job on Henry and sometimes at picking up the play-action, but if the offense can't get anything going soon then they're going to wear out their defense as they've done in a few games already.

First Quarter

• Titans begin from their 37 and Tannehill throws incomplete on a drop by Wheaton-Warrenville South grad Corey Davis. Henry is stuffed on the final play of the quarter. Titans 3, Bears 0

• Blitz coming and Foles underthrows Robinson incomplete. The play wouldn't have been a first down anyway.

• Screen fails to materialize and Foles has to throw it away. The little bit of line blocking they had early has quickly disintegrated.

• Bears at 20 and Foles has to scramble for 2 yards.

• The next one goes out of bounds at the 17. A 60-yard punt by Allen. Can't believe Kern could have done better.

• Punt pins Bears deep but Titans were holding while covering the punt so the rekick is coming.

• Entirely a coverage sack as Tannehill had plenty of time after the play fake. Incomplete on third down as Bears have this one diagnosed and Tannehill throws it away.

• Flag was picked up. Mario Edwards sacks Tannehill after a gain of nothing by Henry. Former Bear tight end Mycole Pruitt is injured on the play for Titans. Third-and-13.

• They net 5 on a delay run as Titans overrun the play with their pass rush. Third-and-6. Incompete to Miller. Punt with 2:44 left and the Titans get a penalty on the return, so after a booming 63-yard O'Donnell punt the Titans start at their 32. 

• A yard loss by Montgomery off right tackle. The running game won't work behind this line.

• Titans kick return units haven't been good but Patterson is stopped at the 20 anyway. 

• The run defense has been stout enough but one missed tackle by Jackson made the scoring drive. The defense doesn't have the luxury of being able to miss tackles against a team like the Titans and considering how little they can expect from their own offense.

• Eddie Jackson misses a tackle on AJ Brown and the Titans bust a 12-yard pass for a gain of 38 to Bears 28. Jackson knocks down a third-down pass and Stephen Gostkowski comes on to try a 40-yard field goal. 4:22 left in quarter. Titans 3, Bears 0

• Henry gets 6 on first down off left guard and Titans go no huddle. He gets another yard on second down and Titans face third-and-3. Tennessee picks it up on a run by McNichols. Three straight runs now.

• Punt coverage fails the Bears and lets Titans out of a hole. They'll start at their own 22

• A run and pass to Patterson net 7 and the Bears face a third-and-3. Not a desireable down and distance behind this  line. Foles throws it away to avoid a sack.

• Ryan Allen, replacing injured Kerns as punter, stubs one and Cordarrelle Patterson's return sets the Bears up at their own 33

• Titans at own 34 with 11:10 left. Mack bearing down on Tannehill on boot pass. Tannehill gets a yard on second down. On third-and-9 Tannehill overthrows A.J. Brown.

• The Titans have a bad run defense but against this Bears offensive line they are going to look much tougher. The idea of running can't be abandoned or they'll tee off on Nick Foles, but they need to keep running the quick-developing pass plays and occasional runs.

• Montgomery with a yard on first down, and that's where they're going to have real problems is getting consistent rushing with Alex Bars at center. On third down Allen Robinson has the first down catch but runs out of bounds short of the marker for some reason. Bears have fourth-and-1. They try a long, slow-developing running play and get stuffed. Robinson's failure to get the easy first down killed this drive. A big play by Jimmy Graham wasted by Robinson's careless play.

• Bears from their own 25 after punt and get a quick 8-yarder to Cordarrelle Patterson then a play-action to Jimmy Graham for 35 yards down the sidelines.

• From the 25 a three-and-out with only one Derrick Henry run for 3 yards on second down. Kyle Fuller nearly picks off the third-down play. The Bears are going to need the defense to dominate this way. Punt goes to the Bears

Bears problems with COVID-19 continue as both Lachavious Simmons and Deon Bush have been put on the Reserve/COVID-19 list and both are quarantined away from the team in Tennessee.

The Tiitans will have cornerback Desmond King active. They just traded for him before the Tuesday trading deadline.

Bears wide receiver Riley Ridley is active for the first time this season.

If you remember back to the 1987 Spare Bears, this is sort of the same thing today:

Bears o-linemen vs. Titans:

Leno – 7th-round pick
Coward — DT in college
Bars — UFA
Ifedi — FA at vet minimum
Hambright — 7th-round rookie
Traore — UFA, backup at LSU
Eiselen — UFA from Yale, started playing football in 2014.
Neary — cut by Broncos, Eagles, Rams, Browns and Rams

— Mark Potash (@MarkPotash) November 8, 2020

Inactives

Bears

• DT John Jenkins (ankle)

• C Sam Mustipher (knee)

• DE Roy Robertson-Harris (shoulder)

• QB Mitchell Trubisky (shoulder)

• OLB Trevis Gipson

Titans

• WR Adam Humphries (concussion)

• LB Jadeveon Clowney (knee)

• DB Kareem Orr

• T Isaiah Wilson

• TE Geoff Swaim

• DL Matt Dickerson

Kickoff: Noon Sunday, Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tenn.

TV: Fox (Dick Stockton, Greg Jennings, Laura Okmin)

Radio: WBBM-AM 780, 105.9 FM (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Mark Grote)

National Radio, Sports USA (Larry Kahn, Doug Plank)

Spanish: Univision Deportes 1200 AM, 93.5 FM (Hector Lopez, Miguel Esparza)

The Series: 13th matchup. Series is tied at 6-6. The Titans won the last game in Chicago in 2016, 27-21. The Bears last won in 2012 in Nashville, 51-20. The Bears have a 3-0 record in games in games played in Nashville and are 3-2 against the Titans since their team name was altered from the Houston Oilers.

The Line: Titans by 6 1/2 (over/under 47)

BearDigest Pick: Bears 23, Titans 20