Caleb Williams wins NFL debut, Bears beat Titans

CHICAGO – With the game ball clutched in his left arm, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams raised his signature bear claw in the air with his right hand in response to the ovation he received from fans as he exited the tunnel at Soldier Field.

In Chicago’s 24-17 win over the Tennessee Titans, Williams became the first No. 1-drafted quarterback to make his first career start since David Carr in 2002. His performance, however, frustrated the quarterback.

Williams completed 14 of 29 passes for 93 yards, threw no touchdowns or interceptions, dropped the ball once and was sacked twice. The rookie quarterback missed 31% of his throws and averaged 3.2 yards per pass attempt.

“We want to be the most efficient team out there, myself included,” Williams said. “I didn’t play the way I wanted to. I missed a couple of passes that I don’t normally do and all those other things.”

“Of course it’s great to get that first win. We’re all excited. We went to the locker room and celebrated. I sat down, enjoyed the moment and just watched all the guys celebrate. I knew I had to be better and that I would be better.”

The Bears were nearly scoreless in the first half before Cairo Santos kicked a 24-yard field goal to give Chicago its first points of the 2024 season. Santos made two more field goals, from 50 and 48 yards, respectively, after the Bears’ punt coverage unit had tied the game.

According to ESPN Analytics, the Bears had a 14 percent chance of beating the Titans before defensive end Daniel Hardy blocked a Tennessee punt with 3:19 left in the third quarter. Safety Jonathan Owens recovered the football and ran 21 yards for a touchdown, cutting the Titans’ lead to 17-10.

“I didn’t know who blocked the ball,” Owens said. “I heard it and saw the ball bounce around. There were people around and I just ran, an instant reaction. It was just crazy. The ball was just there, I just picked it up and grabbed it. I was just thinking: run and run full speed. I get in the end zone and it didn’t feel like real life for a second. So I kind of look back and think: did I just score a point?”

Chicago’s defense, which ranked No. 1 against the run in 2023 (86.4 yards allowed per game), struggled to contain Tennessee’s running attack in the first half. The Titans managed 115 yards on 16 carries in the first two quarters before the Bears struck after halftime (25 yards on 10 carries in the second half, 0.7 yards allowed before first contact).

One drive after the strip-sack fumble that gave Chicago’s offense the ball back and led to Santos’ third field goal, cutting Tennessee’s lead to 17-16, the Bears defense had its own breakthrough.

Facing a third-and-6 attempt at Tennessee’s 45-yard line, Bears coach Matt Eberflus launched a blitz that reached Titans quarterback Will Levis. When Levis was hit, he threw the ball toward the sideline.

But instead of the ball going out of bounds, Chicago cornerback Tyrique Stevenson snagged a 43-yard pick-six that gave the Bears their first lead of the day. Williams and the offense added their first points on the ensuing 2-point conversion when the rookie connected with running back D’Andre Swift for a 24-17 lead.

“We always want to be the engine of the team,” Stevenson said of the Bears’ defense. “We know Caleb is going to have his ups and downs. This may not have been the game he wanted, but we’re just his backbone. We have him and he has us.”

The Bears are the first team in NFL history to win a game in which they trailed by at least 17 points and managed fewer than 150 total yards. Williams struggled in several areas in his NFL debut: He completed 0 of 6 throws under pressure, 2 of 8 for 19 yards against the blitz and 4 of 13 for 40 yards on throws over 5 air yards.

“They didn’t do anything spectacular,” Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons said. “We just have to get the ball. I didn’t see anything spectacular. They didn’t do anything on offense, so I’m excited about what we had on defense.”

After the game, Williams compared his frustration to the 48-20 loss USC suffered at Notre Dame in 2023. Relying on the Bears’ defense and special teams was enough to get them off to a 1-0 start and the kind of momentum the quarterback believes will lead to similar results in future games.

“It was a frustrating game,” Williams said. “But most importantly, and I would say it shows a lot of the personality of this team. The fighting spirit, the resilience that we had.”

“And we didn’t expose anybody. The defense didn’t get on the offense, all those other things. That shows the personality, how much everyone believes in themselves, in the Chicago Bears. The defense believes in the offense, the offense believes in the defense, the special teams and so on.”