The Titans set QB Will Levis up to fail in Week 1 loss in Chicago
NASHVILLE – It was an ugly performance for quarterback Will Levis and the Tennessee Titans in Week 1 of the 2024 NFL regular season. Tennessee let a 17-0 lead slip away by allowing 24 unanswered points to a Chicago Bears team that finished the game with only 148 yards of total offense. Sunday's game marked the […]
NASHVILLE – It was an ugly performance for quarterback Will Levis and the Tennessee Titans in Week 1 of the 2024 NFL regular season.
Tennessee let a 17-0 lead slip away by allowing 24 unanswered points to a Chicago Bears team that finished the game with only 148 yards of total offense. Sunday's game marked the first time in NFL history that a team has won after trailing by at least 17 points with fewer than 150 total yards.
A blocked punt returned for a touchdown by Jonathan Owens jump started Chicago's comeback. An interception returned for a touchdown by Tyrique Stevenson capped it off and gave the Bears the lead for good. That pick six was the result of a poor decision by Will Levis, who tried to shovel the ball out of bounds while being sacked.
Because the pick six was so detrimental to the Titans' chances of winning, a lion's share of the blame for Sunday's loss is being placed on the shoulders of Titans quarterback Will Levis.
I get it. Levis really struggled, particularly in the second half, and Tennessee's passing game had almost nothing going down the field. There was at least one instance where Levis could have hit Calvin Ridley for a long touchdown, but underthrew his target and had the pass broken up. The poor decision that led to the pick six was bad…but could also be a good learning moment for Levis – a young quarterback who has only started 10 NFL games.
And while it would be easy for me to sit here and write my piece piling on Levis for what he admits was a disappointing showing, I think Tennessee's issues in Week 1 are bigger than that. The Titans, in both execution and protection, set Will Levis up to fail in Chicago. Does Levis need to be better? Absolutely, but it will take the entire offensive unit to turn things around in the home opener.
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Levis was the second most pressured quarterback in Week 1. He faced pressure on 47.4 percent of his dropbacks. Looking at numbers from Pro Football Focus, Levis completed 4-of-11 passes and threw two interceptions when facing that pressure.
The Titans offensive line wasn't anything to write home about on Sunday. Levis' life was made more difficult by the pressure coming at him.
Penalties. Negative runs. Sacks. You name it. The execution up front was not good and had the Titans running six of their first nine offensive plays in the second half from behind the sticks.
From a playcalling standpoint, I think the Titans played it a bit too safe in the passing game. Brian Callahan has emphasized taking the "high percentage looks" through the air to make life easier for Levis, but when you have a quarterback with a special arm that excels throwing the deep ball, I think the playcalling should take more shots at explosive pass plays.
Half of Levis' passes were either thrown behind the line of scrimmage or within five yards of the line of scrimmage. As a result, the Titans offense was never able to build momentum and get down the field. That's not playing to your quarterback's strengths.
Levis is a young, relatively inexperienced quarterback playing in an offense with a ton of new concepts and new faces. Brian Callahan is a head coach calling offensive plays in a regular season game for the first time. The Titans were playing on the road against a Chicago Bears defense that led the NFL in interceptions in 2023.
Your number one wide receiver was extremely limited due to a knee injury. You ran six of your first nine plays in the second half behind the sticks. Half the passes you threw were check downs within five yards of the line of scrimmage…And we're surprised Tennessee couldn't get momentum in the second half and Levis struggled? That's a recipe for failure.
It's only Week 1! We don't need to overreact to the performance of Levis, the offensive line, or Brian Callahan in Chicago. This can all be fixed. But I really feel it's unfair to place all of the blame on the quarterback for this loss with the way everything else failed around him in the second half of that game.
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