Different Look, New Coach, Same Titans
PITTSBURGH – Some things never change. Special-teams mistakes, familiar ill-timed turnovers and bonehead plays by Titans mayo wonder boy Will Levis sunk the Tennessee Titans in their NFL opener at Chicago, 24-17. Read more: different look, new coach, same Titans.
It was a game they should have won. The Titans have now lost three openers in a row. This was the most bitter.
With a smothering defense and a new offensive look, the Titans got off to a great start, grabbing a 17-0 lead with 5:00 remaining in the first half. The Titans new veteran laden secondary played smart and aggressive, and didn’t have a single flag tossed their way all game.
Bears first-round pick phenom Caleb Williams looked all rookie the entire game, as the Tennessee defense confused him with stunts and kept up steady pressure throughout. He engineered one legit drive in 60 minutes of football. That resulted in a 50-yard field goal.
But none of that mattered. The debacle started with a blocked punt returned for a TD, narrowing the score to 17-10. The Bears overloaded the right side, and Tennessee should have called an immediate time out to address the weak side. Instead, they did nothing, and Chicago blocked the punt and scored on the scoop.
That one play, totally unavoidable, changed the tenor and momentum of the game.
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After a Levis fumble in the red zone on a ball he should have eaten for a sack, the Titans defense stiffened once again, and the Bears had to settle for their third field goal, narrowing the score to 17-16.
With less than seven minutes remaining, Levis was faced with a critical third-down play. His team still had the lead, and his defense was controlling the game.
Under pressure, he flung the ball wildly as he was being spun to the ground.
The toss, thrown side-arm, was to no one in particular. It was a blind chuck–a school-yard play you would do in middle school, or on the last play of a game with no time-outs.
Plain and simple: Levis lost his head, his poise, his maturity and the game. On one play, following a similar brain-fart two-series prior, Levis gave the game away.
This was the rip on him at Kentucky. This is why he fell to the second round on NFL draft day two years ago.
The Titans knew after three games Malik Willis was not an NFL quarterback.
It might not take new Titans coach Brian Callahan that long to figure this out.
For Titans QB Will Levis the question becomes painful: does he have the mental on field acumen to play this position in the NFL?
After this performance, the court is out.
It may be a swift jury.
