Chicago Bears beat Tennessee Titans: Defensive grades

Linebackers: B

The Chicago Bears linebacking corps wasn’t as sharp as it has been in previous games, but they still made life tough for the Tennessee Titans offense.

As expected, the inside linebackers flew around helped clean up anything the front three didn’t blow up. And the outside linebackers continued their weekly assaults on opposing quarterbacks.

Dan Skuta had a tough game on the tackling side, but not many of the other linebackers did. In particular, backup linebacker Christian Jones flashed in the third quarter, blasting Henry to the turf for a stuff. Later in the game, Nick Kwiatkowski, primarily a run-stuffer at linebacker, made a nice play to tackle a receiver short of the sticks, forcing a third down.

Leonard Floyd earned more holding calls and stood stoutly against the run, an area in which he keeps improving. His dominance is starting to look all but given at this point. Plus, Willie Young added a sack of Mariota later in the game.

Unfortunately, Young and Houston also committed a few unfortunate neutral zone infraction penalties, gifting the struggling Titans yards. Houston’s penalty actually saved Tennessee from an impending fourth down conversion, giving them a first down that they turned into a score.

If not for that and a few missed tackles, though, the Chicago Bears will probably take that performance from their linebackers. Overall, their front seven as a whole is looking the way hoped it would last season. And dominant play from their defensive front can only mean great things for Chicago.