Bears squander another defensive gem in frustrating loss to Titans

The Bears wasted another superb defensive effort.

The scoreboard might not reflect it, but the Bears defense did everything it could to give the Bears a chance in Sunday’s 24-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans.

The defense allowed only 17 points – the Titans scored a touchdown on a fumble recovery – and held the NFL’s leading rusher, running back Derrick Henry, to 68 yards on 21 carries. The biggest knock against the Bears defense this season was that it has been mediocre against the run (16th in the NFL entering Week 9).

It stood tall in that area Sunday.

“I was proud that everybody was fighting,” linebacker Danny Trevathan said. “That’s the kind of character that we have.”

The Titans went 6-for-15 on third-down attempts. The Bears sacked Tennessee quarterback Ryan Tannehill three times.

The Bears defense forced the Titans to punt eight times, including three-and-outs on the first two possessions of the game. The Bears forced seven – yes, seven – three-and-outs in the game.

“Our defense played really, really well,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “They’re doing everything that we’re asking them to do and trying to get that field position going.”

Nagy’s offense could do nothing with that defensive mojo.

The Bears turned the ball over on downs on their first offensive possession of the game, then followed it up with three consecutive three-and-outs – the first of five straight possessions ending with punts.

While the Bears finished the game with five penalties, they didn’t have a single penalty on their first six possessions. Still, they had zero points to show for it.

“I did feel early on that we had a couple of those drives where it wasn’t so much the penalties, it was more the three-and-outs,” Nagy said. “We just weren’t getting first downs.”

The Bears were working with a patchwork of offensive linemen due to injuries and COVID-19. The offense went 2-for-15 on third downs. The run game was nonexistent, other than an 11-yard fake punt run by linebacker Barkevious Mingo. Running back David Montgomery ran 14 times for 30 yards, and left the game in the fourth quarter with a possible concussion.

Asked about the offensive struggles, Trevathan said the Bears defense can’t worry about that.

“A lot of guys get mad,” Trevathan said. “Some people nitpick at little things, like we should have had this, we should have had that. We don’t panic, don’t flinch. All we can do is continue to make ourselves better.”

Trevathan talked about the need for more takeaways. Cornerback Kyle Fuller probably could’ve had a pick-six touchdown early in the game, but dropped the would-be interception at the last moment.

For all their success, the Bears defense ranks in the bottom half of the league in takeaways. While that is only one statistic, it certainly is a game-changing one.

“We know on defense we want to turn the ball over,” Trevathan said. “We played well enough to win, but it’s never enough. We’ve got to be hungry. We’ve got to not allow them to get that many points.”

Still, Tennessee totaled just 228 yards of offense. Tannehill was 10-for-21 passing for 158 yards. The Bears allowed one big strike – a 40-yard touchdown pass to receiver A.J. Brown – but were otherwise rock solid.

Roquan Smith, Mario Edwards Jr. and Bilal Nichols each had a sack. Smith led the way with 11 tackles, two for loss.

And yet, it goes down as another loss, another failed effort. This Bears defense has every right to feel frustrated by the outcome.