Quarterback Caleb Williams is set to make his Bears debut on Sunday, but it’s less certain that wide receiver Keenan Allen will be doing the same.
Allen moved from limited to full participation in practice on Friday, but the Bears are still listing him as questionable to play due to a heel injury. Allen was acquired from the Chargers in a trade this offseason and is at the top of the receiving corps with DJ Moore and Rome Odunze.
Three members of the edge rushing group are also listed as questionable. Montez Sweat (toe), Darrell Taylor (foot), and DeMarcus Walker (groin) are all in that group. Taylor was added to the report on Friday and he did not practice. Sweat was a full participant and Walker was limited for the second straight day.
Defensive tackle Zacch Pickens (groin) is the only player that’s been ruled out for the opener.
Jamal Adams will have to wait at least another week to make his Titans debut.
The veteran safety has missed practice this week with a hip injury and the team officially ruled him out for Sunday’s game against the Bears on Friday. Adams signed with the Titans after being released by the Seahawks earlier this year.
Head coach Brian Callahan said, via Jim Wyatt of the team’s website, that Adams is close to returning to practice. The Titans will host the Jets, another one of Adams’s former teams, in Week Two.
Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins has been a limited participant in practice due to a knee injury and is listed as questionable for Sunday. Linebacker Otis Reese will miss the game with a concussion.
DeAndre Hopkins injured his left knee July 31, and word then was that he would miss 4-6 weeks. The Titans receiver revealed Thursday that he tore his medial collateral ligament but did not require surgery.
He plans to play through the injury.
“I had the MCL tear maybe four and a half, five weeks ago so the thing about those is it takes a whole year for them to heal,” Hopkins told Paul Kuharsky of paulkuharsky.com. “Obviously, it’s pain at that point.”
Hopkins wouldn’t say whether his injury might later require surgery, which would take him out for 2-3 months.
“I don’t like speaking like that; I’m going to let you speak that,” he said, laughing.
Hopkins did require surgery for a Grade 3 MCL tear in his right knee in 2021. He missed the Cardinals’ final six games, including their postseason loss.
He’s hoping not to miss any time this season, expecting to play Sunday against the Bears.
“Right now, the way I feel, hopefully I can get out there Sunday and perform,” Hopkins said.
He led the Titans with 75 receptions for 1,057 yards and seven touchdowns last season.
The team added Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd this offseason to go with Hopkins, with Treylon Burks and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine in line to spell Hopkins if needed.
Bears receiver Keenan Allen is no stranger to playing with a first-round rookie quarterback.
He did it recently with the Chargers in 2020, as Justin Herbert took over for Tyrod Taylor and ended up as the offensive rookie of the year.
But Los Angeles did not intend to start Herbert as early as they did. And that’s part of the big difference between then and now, as Allen gets ready to play alongside quarterback Caleb Williams as this year’s No. 1 overall pick makes his debut on Sunday against the Titans.
“The confidence,” Allen said Wednesday, via Josh Schrock of NBCSportsChicago.com. “[Williams has] always been the guy. When we first had Herbert, he wasn’t really a starter going into Week 1, so that’s a difference. He’s always been the guy, so he’s always had the expectation of playing at that level that we play at.
“He’s ready for it. He’s up for the task. His confidence is good.”
Allen added that he’s expecting to win with Williams as Chicago’s quarterback.
“No matter who the quarterback is, you want to win,” Allen said. “I wouldn’t rather be with another guy right now than Caleb. He’s gotten better ever since we started. The confidence is through the roof.”
Titans quarterback Will Levis is opening an NFL season as a starter for the first time, so it’s no surprise that he’s excited for Sunday to get here to kick of this phase of his career.
Levis took over for Ryan Tannehill during his rookie season and completed 149-of-255 passes for 1,808 yards with eight touchdowns and four interceptions while making nine starts. He spent the offseason learning the offense that new head coach Brian Callahan installed while also working on his own game and he told reporters on Wednesday that he’s particularly excited about showing off the fruits of his labor.
“It’s just trusting what I see,” Levis said, via the team’s website. “And I think that’s one of the things I’ve improved on the most, just playing ball and doing the right thing over and over and over again. And, just knowing as long as you keep making those right decisions, you are going to keep putting your team in the best place to succeed. . . . I just feel ready, and I’m looking forward to putting it on display.”
The Titans reset the franchise’s course this offseason when they hired Callahan in the wake of Mike Vrabel’s departure after seven years on the job and the result of that move will have a lot to do with how Levis fares in 2024 and beyond. That question will start being answered against the Bears on Sunday.
When Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins hurt his knee in late July, word was that he’d be out four to six weeks and that put his availability for Week One into question.
Hopkins is moving in the right direction with the Titans opener set for Sunday against the Bears. Hopkins took part in Wednesday’s practice and head coach Brian Callahan said that the receiver looked like himself on the field.
“He looks like Hop,” Callahan said, via Turron Davenport of ESPN.com. “He’s been really communicative about how he feels and where his body’s at and making sure he’s getting to work to be ready to play. Everything he’s done has been exactly what we’re looking for in terms of communication and process, so that’s been positive.”
Callahan said Hopkins could play this weekend, but any determination of his status will come later in the week.
The Bears haven’t had a high-end quarterback in a long time. Definitely not in the pass-happy modern NFL era.
As mentioned on Tuesday’s PFT Live, rookie Caleb Williams could possibly set one or more Bears single-season records as a rookie. (Tuesday co-host Devin McCourty didn’t believe it.)
The Bears’ single-season passing yardage record was set in 1995. By Erik Kramer, with 3,838 yards. That same year, he set the record for touchdowns with 29.
Many would say Jay Cutler had more. He didn’t. His best year with the Bears — 2014 — resulted in 3,812 yards.
Cutler ultimately had five 3,000-yard seasons in Chicago, and he’s the all-time franchise leader with 23,443 passing yards.
While it will take a few years for Williams to get to 23,444 or more career yards, he could get to 3,839 as soon as this year. And if/when he ever gets to 4,000 passing yards in the single season, he’ll be the first Bears quarterback to do it.
And, yes, the Bears are the only team that hasn’t had a quarterback with a 4,000-yard passing season.
It’s been a summer of good buzz in Chicago, but cornerback Jaylon Johnson is ready to shift gears.
The arrival of quarterback Caleb Williams as the top pick in the draft provided a jolt to a franchise that’s been slumbering for the last few years and a starring role on Hard Knocks helped build optimism about what the team will be able to achieve on the field this fall. Johnson has heard the chatter, but he wants the team to tune it out because it is time to shift from talking to doing.
“I’m done buying into the hype, honestly,” Johnson said, via the team’s website. “I feel like I’ve said it before plenty of times. I’ve had some pretty good rosters and plenty of talented people in the locker rooms where [it’s said], ‘Oh yeah, this is our year, this is our year.’ Everything that we’ve got in this locker room sounds good, it seems good, but none of that matters. What matters is what we’re going to do this weekend and from every Sunday or Monday, whatever game it is. That’s when it matters. The preseason hype doesn’t move me. We’ve all got to come in here and we’ve got to work, just top to bottom.”
The Titans will be in Chicago on Sunday and that will give Johnson and the rest of the team a chance to show that there’s something behind all the smoke that’s been seen in Chicago over the last few months.
There will be a pair of notable debuts at Soldier Field this weekend.
Caleb Williams will make his first start at quarterback for the Bears and Brian Callahan of the Titans will be a head coach for the first time. Callahan said on Monday that he is “a huge fan of Caleb Williams and what he did at USC,” but he won’t be admiring the quarterback this Sunday. Callahan will be trying to make sure that the first overall pick experiences his first NFL loss.
“He’s everything a No. 1 pick you would expect to be,” Callahan said, via Nick Suss of the Tennessean. “You have to treat him as such and treat him with that kind of respect. Obviously you have to earn that in this league. He’s got to do it in regular-season games. I just hope it isn’t in the first week.”
History is against Williams. No quarterback picked first overall has won a Week One start since David Carr in 2002 and Callahan will be trying to extend that streak of futility at least one year longer this weekend.
The Bears have named their captains for 2024. Continuing the trend of having too many in lieu of too few, the Bears have eight.
One of them was the first overall pick in the draft.
Too little surprise, quarterback Caleb Williams has emerged immediately as a leader. The other captains are receiver DJ Moore, tight end Cole Kmet, tight end Marcedes Lewis, linebacker T.J. Edwards, safety Kevin Byard, cornerback Jaylon Johnson, and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.
With the exception of Kmet and Johnson, all captains arrived in Chicago in 2023 or later. Byard signed with the Bears earlier this year.