The Tennessee Titans had a disastrous performance in their Week 1 loss to the The Chicago Bearsthe team blew a 17-3 halftime lead and ultimately lost 24-17, despite the defense not allowing a single Chicago touchdown.
The fact that quarterback Will Levis was terrible made matters worse. The second-year player threw two interceptions and fumbled a ball. One of those interceptions was arguably one of the worst decisions we’ve ever seen a quarterback make.
When it comes to snaps on offense, running back Tony Pollard led the way in Tennessee’s backfield with 39 to Tyjae Spears’ 29. It’s not a huge gap between the two, but it seems much larger when you consider that Pollard had 19 touches to Spears’ eight.
We can safely say that Pollard is RB1 after Week 1, especially after being one of the few bright spots on the offense with 82 yards on 16 carries and a 26-yard touchdown. He added three receptions for 12 yards.
Coming into the game, there was some question as to whether or not receiver DeAndre Hopkins would play a full complement of snaps as he tries to playing despite a torn medial collateral ligament it causes pain.
.@Titans against @ChicagoBears engages. pic.twitter.com/7r8ia43ALe
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) September 9, 2024
It remains to be seen whether Hopkins was limited because of the injury or because he had only three limited practices in the span of a month-plus and was just gradually working his way back, but he logged just 17 snaps in his 2024 debut, the fewest Hopkins has seen in a game during his Titans tenure.
The biggest beneficiary of Hopkins’ limited action was fellow receiver Treylon Burks, who saw the third-most snaps at the position (44) behind Calvin Ridley (54) and Tyler Boyd (53). Unfortunately for Burks, he did nothing with them, totaling just one reception for two yards. Hopkins was not targeted.
Some more interesting nuggets from the number of shots:
Chig Okonkwo edged Josh Whyle 38-18. So far, the hype around Whyle taking Chig’s job seems to have been overblown.
Andrew Rupcich was the first player off the bench when right guard Dillon Radunz left the field with an injury. He saw 15 snaps.
Chidobe Awuzie didn’t play a full 73 percent of his snaps. Rookie Jarvis Brownlee Jr. picked up the slack, playing 18 snaps.
Ernest Jones (26) is the third-most snapped linebacker behind Kenneth Murray (56) and Jack Gibbens (30). I expect Jones to eventually pass Gibbens in the coming weeks.
The Titans will return to action in Week 2 when they host the New York Jets in Nashville.
