Bears vs. Titans: Good, bad and ugly from Bears’ Week 1 win

The Chicago Bears mounted a comeback win over the Tennessee Titans to open the 2024 NFL season at 1-0.

The Bears' Week 1 win over the Titans may not have been what fans expected, but it was a win nonetheless. The main storyline of Chicago's season opener was rookie quarterback Caleb Williams making his first regular season start. His debut didn’t go as planned, but in good old Bears fashion, the defense and special teams pulled through.

Chicago gets to celebrate a Week 1 win, but there is obviously a lot to clean up before traveling to Houston next week. But first, let’s break down the good, bad and ugly of the Bears' 24-17 win over the Titans:

The Good

Defense: The Bears tapped into where they have historically succeeded, the defense, to win this game. The defense gave up a rushing and passing touchdown in the first half, but still did a good job of containing Titans quarterback Will Levis. Then comes the second half, where the defense didn’t allow a single point, forced four punts and had three takeaways. Chicago was tied for the most interceptions last year and were in the top half of the league in pass coverage. The secondary looks just as good this year and second-year cornerback Tyrique Stevenson looks like he’s tapped into his potential and is a perfect compliment across from All-Pro Jaylon Johnson. Linebacker T.J. Edwards is another player that showed a lot of flashes last year and led the Bears today with 15 total tackles. Darrell Taylor proved to be a massive offseason pick up at defensive end and had two sacks. Overall, the defense looks impressive on all three levels, and should play a big part in the Bears winning games this season.

Special teams: If it wasn’t for how good the special teams played, the Bears might’ve lost this game. At the start of the second half, Chicago only had three points, but a Daniel Hardy blocked punt that was scooped up and taken to the house by safety Jonathan Owens completely turned the tide for the Bears and sparked its comeback. Punter Tory Taylor was also noteworthy in his first NFL start. You never want to see your punter take the field six times, but if you have to, then you want it to be someone who can consistently and efficiently flip the field. Taylor did just that. He averaged 45 yards per punt, landed three punts inside the 20-yard line compared to just one touchback and even sent one punt booming for 60 yards. The one downside of Chicago's special teams on the day was a muffed kick return from Velus Jones Jr. On the next kickoff Eberflus sent veteran DeAndre Carter out there and he returned the kickoff for 67 yards. Carter also returned five punts for 64 yards. Not only did the Bears special teams help them win this game, but it helped sort out personnel for the rest of the season.

The Bad

Caleb Williams: Williams obviously had a lot of internal and external hype surrounding his first regular season start, I mean, he was the No. 1 overall pick. Well, it didn’t go as expected. I’m sure hiccups were probably expected, being a rookie quarterback, but Williams never really got comfortable and settled into a groove. A 48% completion percentage and just 93 passing yards isn’t what you want to see out of a guy that’s supposed to be the savior of the franchise. Williams didn’t play well, but he kept the ball safe and showed flashes just like he did during the preseason. A lot of his incompletions came from passes being tipped at the line and passes that looked like line drives into the grass. Williams also had a few deep ball opportunities where he overshot his target. All he has to do is get his timing under control. This resulted in the Bears converting on just 2-of-13 third downs. It wasn’t pretty, but it was one game. As Williams sees more action and adjusts to the speed of the NFL, he will start to look like the quarterback everyone expects him to be.

Run defense: I did just talk about how good the defense played, but there was one area they showed vulnerability in, especially in the first half. That one area was run defense. Yes the front seven played great and got better as the game went on, but the Titans ran for 140 yards. Tony Pollard carried the ball 16 times and averaged 5.1 yards per carry, and overall the Titans averaged 5.4 yards per carry on 26 rushes. The Bears have two very good inside linebackers in Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds and a young defensive line with a lot of potential, but it can’t take them a full half of football to stop their opponents rushing attack from this point on.

The Ugly

Interior offensive line: There’s really only one thing I haven’t talked about yet that I saved just for this section, and that’s the offensive line, more specifically the interior. I was worried about center Coleman Shelton going into this game, mostly because he would be responsible a lot of the time for T’Vondre Sweat and Jeffery Simmons. That worry proved to be valid. Very valid. Shelton had multiple plays where he was either pushed straight on his back or looked lost when trying to identify his blocking assignment. Williams was only sacked twice but it was rare that he didn’t have a defender in his face or hitting him when throwing. The Bears also had a hard time getting D’Andre Swift going in between the tackles, and saw almost no production when pull-blocking with interior lineman. Nate Davis, who also had a rough afternoon, rotated at right guard with Ryan Bates. Teven Jenkins has a lot of potential to be the guy for the Bears on the interior, but center and right guard and big question marks for Chicago going into Week 2.

This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears vs. Titans: Good, bad and ugly from Bears’ Week 1 win