by Andrew Seligman
CHICAGO — Justin Fields insisted long completions are coming. For now, he’ll take plays like these.
Fields threw touchdown passes to prized newcomer DJ Mooreand Khalil Herbert on Chicago’s first two possessions, then watched as the Bears beat the Tennessee Titans 23-17 in the teams’ preseason opener Saturday.
“After a period of time where we keep completing those little short passes,” Fields said, “they start blitzing more, pressuring, playing more man coverage, that’s when those deep shots just naturally happen.”
The Bears envisioned big plays in the passing game when they acquired Moore in a blockbuster trade with the Carolina Panthers. They got one from their new receiver, though it didn’t happen on a long throw. Nor did Herbert’s TD.
They turned short passes into sprints to the end zone against a second-string defense after Tennessee’s Malik Willis led the Titans on a 75-yard touchdown drive to start the game.
A third-round pick last year, Willis hit a wide-open Chris Moore in the middle for a 30-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage and scored from the 2 with Chicago using mostly reserves.
DJ Moore caught a screen from Fields and went 62 yards untouched along the left side. Not a bad way to introduce himself to the Soldier Field crowd, after the Bears acquired him from Carolina for the top pick in the draft.
On Chicago’s second drive, Fields rolled to his left to avoid the blitz. He found a wide-open Herbert, who was barely touched on a 56-yard TD that gave the Bears a 14-7 lead.
“When you increase your skill on your football team, the catches and runs get larger, right?” coach Matt Eberflus said. “And the stat line looks better. So we’re going to continue to do that. Certainly we’re going to take our shots down the field as well, but that’s a good thing to see. And it’s not a real big surprise to anybody that’s been around because we’ve all seen it in practices.”
Fields completed all three of his passes for 129 yards. He finished with a 158.3 rating and did not run the ball before P.J. Walker took over. The Bears are counting on the former Ohio State star to show he can be the passer they need him to be in his third year after he ran for 1,143 yards and just missed the NFL’s single-season rushing record for a quarterback.
Walker was 4 of 8 for 19 yards and an interception. Nathan Peterman started the second half and was 4 of 6 for 58 yards.
Bears rookie Zacch Pickens had one of Chicago’s eight sacks.
WILLIAMS’ CHANCE
The Titans had Terrell Williams acting as head coach after Mike Vrabel handed those duties to his assistant for a 48-hour period starting Thursday. Williams, who is Black, hopes to become a head coach. And Vrabel wanted to give him some experience.
“I was prepared because I have Mike, and I asked him a bunch of questions leading up into this,” Williams said. “This was the easy part. Getting to the football game and actually coaching this day, that was the easy part. It’s the stuff leading up to it, make sure everybody’s on time and doing all of that stuff. Where normally, I’m worried about a group of defensive linemen, now I’m worried about the entire football team.”
QB SPLIT
The Titans had Willis and second-round pick Will Levis share repetitions with Ryan Tannehill not playing.
Willis completed 16 of 25 passes for 189 yards. He had the Titans on the Chicago 10 near the end of the game, but the Bears’ Barrington Wade broke up his fourth-down pass to Gavin Holmes in the back of the end zone.
Willis was also intercepted at the goal line by A.J. Thomas, who picked off a pass that deflected off leaping tight end Josh Whyle’s hands, after Chicago’s Velus Jones Jr. muffed a punt to start the second quarter on the previous play.
Levis threw for 85 yards, going 9 of 14 and had a deep pass intercepted in the final minute.
“It was different,” he said. “It was the first time I think either of us had ever really done anything like that. It’s like practice, we switch off reps. … The only weird part was getting re-warmed up every so often.
Rookie Tyjae Spears ran for 32 yards on six attempts, and Julius Chestnut finished with 46 yards rushing. Hassan Haskins scored from the 1 in the second quarter. Tre Avery intercepted Walker.
