The Tennessee Titans will visit Solider Field this weekend. While the optimism surrounding the Chicago Bears is at an all-time high, the coaching staff shouldn’t overlook a vastly improved Titans team on Sunday.
Tennessee Titans Offense
The Tennessee Titans’ offense was abysmal in 2023, averaging just 17.9 points and 289 yards per contest. Tennessee finished the season 28th in yards and 27th in scoring. If their offense is similarly bad this season, it won’t be due to a lack of effort. Since the end of the 2023 season, Tennessee has spent $318.2 million on free agents.
Among the big spending were projected starters on offense: Wide receivers Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd, running back Tony Pollard, and center Lloyd Cushenberry. Titans General Manager Ran Carthon also fired defensive-minded head coach Mike Vrabel and replaced him with former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan. Callahan led the Bengals offenﷺse for five seasons and was a part of the Bengals team that went to the Super Bowl a few years ago.
Tennessee’s most significant offseason addition was wide receiver Calvin Ridley, whom they snatched from division rival Jacksonville with a four-year, $92 million contract. Ridley joins DeAndre Hopkins as a lethal one-two punch for second-year quarterback Will Levis. Tyler Boyd served as an excellent third option for Joe Burrow (and current head coach Brian Callahan) during his time in Cincinnati and will slide into the same role behind Hopkins and Ridley on the Titans depth chart. Simply put, Will Levis has some good pass-catching options available to him.
Levis also has an improved offensive line and a backfield with an e♕xpected time share b๊etween newcomer Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears.
Tennessee added Lloyd Cushenberry in free agency, and rookie left tackle JC Lathan in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft to give Levis more time to find the trio of Hopkins, Ridley, and Boyd in the pocket, especially against a Bears pass rush, which is probably their most significant vulnerability this season. Tennessee quarterbacks were sacked 64 times last season, tied for the fourth-most in the league. That figures to improve this season, but how quickly? Will the Bears be able to take advantage of some growing pains along the Titans’ offensive front this weekend?
In addition to three very good pass-catching options at receiver, Tony Pollard is a dual-threat back who can impact the passing game, especially if Chicago’s secondary locks up Will Levis’s receivers. Pollard had 55 catches for 311 yards (5.7) with Dallas last season and caught 39 passes in the previous two seasons with the Cowboys.
Fun stat from NFL Next Gen Stats: DeAndre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley both averaged 2.3 yards of separation last season, which ranked toward the bottom of the league. With Jaylon Johnson and Tyrique Stevenson matching up with Hopkins and Ridley, there is♛ a good chance we see Levis lean on Pollard in the passing game frequently this weekend.
Tennessee Titans Defense
Tennessee’s offseason spending wasn’t limited to splashy additions on offense. They also brought in L’Jarius Sneed and Chidobe Awuzie to their cornerback room. Tennessee added Awuzie through free agency, then acquired Sneed via trade from Kansas City, signing him to a four-year deal worth $76.4 million.
Sneed is a two-time Super Bowl champion with Kansas City and one of the best cornerbacks in football. He will take away one side of the field from the Bears this weekend, and he’s not the only Tennessee corner to consider. Awuzie and returning corner Roger McCreary aren’t guys you can look past. Sneed and McCreary ranked in the top 35 cornerbacks in PFF’s coverage grades last season.
The Titans also acquired Seattle’s two starting safeties last season, Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs. Adams’ availability is uncertain due to injuries that have restricted him to just 10 games in the previous two seasons. Still, Diggs, a Pro Bowler from 2020 to 2022, will provide the Titans with skill and experience alongside veteran Amani Hooker.
Chicago Bears Offensive Coordinator Shane Waldron must also prepare for Tennessee rookie defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat. The second-rounder checks in at 6-foot-4, 362 pounds, and was one of college football’s best defensive linemen last season, winning the Outland Trophy, given to college football’s best interior lineman, while playing at the University of Texas.
“He’s just so big and so powerful, and he’s got real pass-rush wiggle for a guy his🐠 size,” Callahan recently said 💜of Sweat, . “I mean, he can get on the edge and work it. He’s got fast hands. … You watch him in one-on-ones, and he can win one-on-one, which a lot of times those big guys struggle to win. But he’s got enough quickness to do it.”
Tennessee Titans Coaching
Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk fired former head coach Mike Vrabel after ♕back🎀-to-back losing seasons. Adams Strunk attributed her decision to culture, and she allowed Ran Carthon to hire someone to revive that culture. Carthon landed on Brian Callahan.
Callahan is the son of former NFL head coach Bill Callahan (now the Titans’ offensive line coach) and has spent the last five seasons a🍸s the OC in Cincinnat♏i.
Tennessee was a ground-and-pound team under Mike Vrabel, but expect the Titans to open the playbook up and get vertical far more regularly under Callahan. This is evident by both his experience as a play-caller and Tennessee’s spending on the offensive side of the football.
The Titans finished among the NFL’s top five teams in percentage of run-versus-pass plays in four of the pa🎀st five years. Callahan and the Bengals finished among the NFL’s top five teams in the percentage of pass-versus-run plays in three of the past five years in Cincinnati.
Tennessee al🤪so has a new defensive coordinator, Dennard Wilson. Wilson most recently served as the Baltimore Ravens defensive backs coach in 2023. Baltimore ranked sixth in the NFL in passing defense, allowing 192 yards per contest, first in the points allowed with 16.5 points per game, and third in inte𒊎rceptions with 18.
Wilson’s resume as a secondary guru is limited to Baltimore, though. In 2022, he served as the Philadelphia Eagles defensive backs coach, and the Eagles ranked first in passing defense (179.8) and fourth in interceptions (17) en route to an NFC title and a trip to the Super Bowl.
With Wilson at the helm on defense and a vastly improved secondary, Tennessee will be in an excellent position to match up with the Bears’ plethora of pass-catching playmakers. Will Caleb Williams’ words (when he recently said he doesn’t care if the Bears lean on the run to win games) be tested in Week 1?
