NASHVILLE – Titans Coach Brian Callahan held a press conference on Monday at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park, one day after his team's 24-17 loss to the Chicago Bears.
Next up is the home opener, against the New York Jets.
Here's a look at the hot topics from today's presser:
-Titans right guard Dillon Radunz suffered a bruised rib in the contest, but he should be good to go for Sunday against the Jets.
-Callahan said there were no significant injuries coming out of the game.
-Callahan said he was surprised by some of the decisions made by quarterback Will Levis, whose pick-6 in the fourth quarter gave the Bears the lead. Levis threw two interceptions against the Bears, and he lost the football after being sacked. "You have to learn from them, and they're hard lessons to learn," Callahan said of Levis. "The interception was a really poor decision – I know what he was trying to do … but sometimes the right thing is to take a sack, and he should have done that in that particular case. A tough pill to swallow for him, a tough lesson to learn. But he has to learn from it."
-Callahan singled out defensive lineman T'Vondre Sweat, saying he really showed up in the run and pass game. "It was really pretty impressive," Callahan said of Sweat. "I think Sweat has been on a consistent arrow up – he's been rising since he's gotten here. In every week that went by in training camp he got more comfortable, he got better, his weight went down, he is getting more in shape, he is learning how to play. And that was really, really good to see. I mean, he was a force." Alongside defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons, Callahan said the Titans "have two forces inside that make like really hard."
-Callahan discussed the errors on the special teams. He said the punt block was a 1-on-1 loss, more about technique and execution. The long kick return by the Bears was a matter of the team not being able to get off blocks effectively, which allowed the Bears to hit a seam. "I was excited to see what we would look like on special teams – I thought we'd be better that what we were in the game," Callahan said. "I just think we didn't play our best game on special teams."
-Callahan was very complimentary of the defense, which is ranked No.1 in the NFL through all of the Sunday games. "We were playing so good on defense," Callahan said, "it was almost as if we'd just punted it on 1st and 10 every time we might have won the game, the way we gave it away."
-Callahan said he'd like to get the distribution of carries for the running backs more even. Tony Pollard carried the ball 16 times for 82 yards on Sunday while Tyjae Spears had just four carries for 21 yards. "Tony ran the ball, and he was doing a nice job," Callahan said. "But I'd like to get more for Tyjae. I'd like him to get rolling a little bit more. We can make that division of labor probably a little closer to equal. … I regret that part of it."
-Callahan said the Titans won't dwell on Sunday's loss. Instead, he pointed to the big picture. "At the end of the day, it's one game out of 17," he said. "We have a lot of things to get better at, a lot of things to improve. Our detail, our urgency, our technique, all have to get better. But the sky doesn't fall. … You go back and you find a way to clean it up, and you move forward. We all know we can get better."
