If Chicago Bears fans were hoping for some good vibes to start the season, the team delivered in ways we didn't see last year.
The Caleb Williams era is officially off to a mostly positive start, as the Bears played the most Bears game possible on the way to a 24-17 over the Titans. Things actually didn't go particularly well for Chicago, which is definitely a problem, but a problem for Wednesday. You take the wins; however, you can get them in the NFL, and I imagine the Bears are thrilled that they were able to play that poorly and still find a way to come out with the W.
And even though every Bears player is technically a winner today, if you've been around blogs long enough you know that there are always winners and losers. Here's where things stand after the first four quarters of the year.
Bears' loss to the Titans exposes major holes in the roster
Winner: The Secondary
There is something admittedly funny about how so much effort was put into overhauling the Bears' offense this season, only to have their first game be exactly the same as always: 3.5 quarters of offensive slop that gets bailed out by the defense in the final 10 minutes.
After a rough first half, the Bears' defense locked things up in the second – the Titans didn't score a single point after halftime, and fourth quarter interceptions from Tyrique Stevenson and Jaylon Johnson both won and sealed the game. Elsewhere on defense, Darrell Taylor – who wasn't even on the roster during preseason – had one hell of a debut (two sacks) and TJ Edwards (15 tackles, 10 solo, 2 TFLs) was all over the place.
If they can consistently keep teams under 20 points and turn the ball over three times a game, they'll probably be fine. It's that easy!
Winner: Most of the Bears' special teams
On the whole, it was a mostly good day for the Bears' special teams. DeAndre Carter had a nice day as the team's primary return guy, and Jonathan Owens's punt block touchdown – the first of the season for the Bears – breathed life back into Soldier Field. And if you want to put a silver lining on Velus Jones stuff, you could argue that today was the last day that the team, in theory at least, is going to keep trying to make Jones happen.
So, in that sense, it was a productive day across the board for them. Cairo Santos hitting all three of his field goals, including one from 50 yards, will be more under-appreciated than it should be.
Loser: Bears' interior offensive line
Look, when you bench your starting right guard after a few drives in the first game of the season, you have bigger issues to deal with. That's what happened to Nate Davis, who's had a disastrous stint in Chicago since coming over last season. Ryan Bates came in for Davis and played fine, but the issue isn't going away. On top of that, Coleman Shelton's debut at center didn't go particularly well either. Fair or not, there were a lot of Justin Fields Believers who came away from this afternoon feeling vindicated.
Loser: Velus Jones
There's no nice way to sugarcoat it: Velus Jones has got to go.
The Bears have given Jones more than enough chances to prove that he should be on the roster, and I'll even admit that the idea of him being a Cordarrelle Patterson-style hybrid running back is intriguing. But Jones simply isn't playable on special teams, and there aren't a whole lot of reasons to keep a wide receiver who can neither catch passes or punts on the team.
Jones got benched almost immediately after his fumble, so it seems like the Bears are maybe on the same page as everyone else at this point.