Will Levis Laments ‘Bonehead Play’ After Titans Collapse, Lose To Bears

PublishedSeptember 9, 2024 11:34 AM EDT|UpdatedSeptember 9, 2024 11:34 AM EDT

Will Levis and the Tennessee Titans dominated the Chicago Bears in their season opener on Sunday — until they didn't.

The Titans were rolling as they headed into halftime with a 17-3 lead. But in the second half, the Bears scored 21 unanswered to win the Week 1 match-up at Soldier Field. There was one play, though, that really sealed Tennessee's fate, and it was on Levis.

The Titans held a 1-point lead when they started a drive with 9:45 left in the fourth quarter. Tennessee’s defense had played well, with Chicago’s only touchdown coming from a blocked punt that the home team returned for 6.

But then came the Levis death pick: As the second-year quarterback tried to backhand flip a ball away to avoid taking a sack, Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson snagged it and ran it into the end zone for the go-ahead score.

"Just a bonehead play," Levis told reporters after the game. "I think recency bias from getting away with it the last time I did it in a game, just trying to throw it in the dirt. And when you’re getting taken down, you don’t know what’s going to happen to the ball as it comes out. I was really just trying to dirt it.

"It might be one of those times to just take the sack. So, one of the things — of a lot of things — that I can learn from, from this game."

It was definitely one of those times to just take the sack.

Will Levis And The Titans Come Up Short

Levis was 9-of-15 for 67 yards with a touchdown in the first half. He ended the game 19-of-32 for 127 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions and a lost fumble as the Titans completed their Week 1 collapse to a Bears team that could not get anything going on its own offensive side of the ball.

"We just weren’t as efficient," Levis said of the difference between the first and second half. "The penalties and stuff that we were emphasizing trying to eliminate in that second half kept happening. [We] kept leaving ourselves in third-and-long, just not being efficient on first and second down — which is what one of our keys to this game was. And credit to them, they did a good job of stopping the run and closing the coverage.

"Yeah, we’ve just got to be better. That’s not us. The first half was a winning offensive football game. The second half, that can lose you games. So, just not good across the board."