Cairo Santos’ late field goal and a game-sealing interception secured a statement finish to Chicago Bears vs tennessee Titans on the road.
Final Score: Chicago Bears 24, Tennessee Titans 15
NFL Preseason Week 3 | Nissan Stadium, Nashville, TN | Saturday, August 29, 2026
The Chicago Bears closed out their 2026 preseason schedule with a 24-15 road win over the Tennessee Titans, overcoming a Titans side that had entered the night unbeaten through two exhibition games. Playing as road underdogs, Chicago leaned on a balanced offensive effort and a defense that came up with the plays that mattered most, finishing the preseason at 2-1 while Tennessee dropped to 2-1 as well after starting 2-0.
First Quarter: Bears Strike First
Chicago wasted little time asserting control, taking a 7-3 lead by the end of the opening quarter. With Tyson Bagent operating the offense, the Bears moved the ball efficiently in the early going, while Tennessee’s response was limited to an early field goal. It was a quietly effective start for a Chicago side that had spent most of the preseason working through its depth chart rather than showcasing its top-line talent.
Second Quarter and Beyond: Chicago Builds Its Cushion
The Bears carried their first-quarter momentum into the middle periods, extending the lead and forcing Tennessee to play from behind for the majority of the contest. Chicago’s ability to sustain drives and finish possessions with points — rather than settling for empty trips into opposing territory — proved to be the difference-maker over the course of the game, a marked contrast to some of the red-zone struggles that had shown up earlier in the preseason slate.
Titans Respond, But Too Late
Tennessee finally got on the scoreboard with a touchdown when running back D’Ernest Johnson broke free for a 6-yard score, continuing the form he’d shown throughout the preseason after his Week 2 heroics against Seattle. The extra point attempt failed, leaving the Titans to make up the shortfall through the remainder of the game. It was a spark for the home crowd at Nissan Stadium, but Chicago’s cushion built over the first three quarters proved too much to fully overcome.
Chicago Closes It Out
With the Titans pushing for a late rally, Chicago’s defense stepped up when it mattered most, coming up with a crucial interception in the closing stages to snuff out Tennessee’s chances of a comeback. On the other side of the ball, kicker Cairo Santos added the finishing touch, connecting on a 37-yard field goal after a Chicago drive stalled short of the end zone — the kind of “take the points and move on” decision-making that reflected a Bears team playing with control rather than pressing. The clock ran out shortly after, sealing the 24-15 final and sending Chicago into the regular season on a winning note.
Key Moments
- End of Q1 — Bears lead 7-3 behind an efficient opening drive under Tyson Bagent.
- Mid-game — Chicago extends its lead, controlling the game’s tempo through the second and third quarters.
- Fourth quarter — D’Ernest Johnson scores on a 6-yard touchdown run for Tennessee; the extra point fails.
- Late fourth quarter — Cairo Santos connects on a 37-yard field goal to push Chicago’s lead back to nine.
- Final minutes — A Chicago interception ends Tennessee’s last realistic scoring opportunity, sealing the win.
Team News & Context
Chicago Bears: Tyson Bagent led the offense in a game that, like the rest of the preseason, was more about evaluating roster depth than showcasing starters — Caleb Williams saw minimal snaps across Chicago’s three preseason games. The win pushed Chicago to 2-1 in exhibition play heading into the regular season.
Tennessee Titans: D’Ernest Johnson’s touchdown continued a strong preseason for the running back, but the loss ended Tennessee’s unbeaten preseason run at 2-1. Quarterback Cam Ward, the Titans’ presumptive starter, was not the story of this particular finale, with the loss instead coming down to Chicago’s ability to finish drives and Tennessee’s inability to overcome an early deficit.
Conditions: The game was played in clear skies with a game-time temperature around 93°F at Nissan Stadium, with Tennessee entering as 2.5-point favorites before kickoff — a line Chicago comfortably outplayed.
Analysis
For a preseason finale played with an eye on Sunday’s roster cutdown deadline as much as the scoreboard, Chicago’s performance offered genuine reasons for optimism beyond the final score. Bagent’s efficient management of the offense, a red-zone execution that had been inconsistent earlier in the preseason, and a defense that delivered the decisive turnover in the final minutes all point to a roster rounding into form at the right time. For Tennessee, the result is unlikely to cause alarm — preseason finales are typically played by players fighting for the back end of the roster rather than the starters who’ll define the team’s regular-season fortunes — but it does deny the Titans a clean sweep of the exhibition slate heading into their opener.
What’s Next
Both teams now turn to the least glamorous part of the NFL calendar: trimming rosters from as many as 91 players down to the 53-man regular-season limit by 5:00 PM on Sunday. For many of the players who saw extended snaps in this game — particularly on Chicago’s side, where backfield and defensive line depth battles remained unresolved coming in — Saturday night’s performance will factor directly into whether they’re still on the roster by Monday morning.
Match Preview
With roster cuts looming the very next day, everything about Saturday’s Chicago Bears vs Tennessee Titans finale doubles as a job audition.
Chicago Bears (1-1) @ Tennessee Titans (2-0) Nissan Stadium, Nashville, TN Kickoff: 5:00 PM CT / 6:00 PM ET TV: NFL Network (national) | FOX 32 (Chicago local) Weather: Sunny, high near 92°F, low 67°F — clear conditions expected at kickoff
The Chicago Bears close out their 2026 preseason slate on the road against the Tennessee Titans, marking the final tune-up before both franchises must trim their rosters to the 53-man regular-season limit. It’s a matchup that carries more weight than a typical exhibition finale, both for the storylines it sets up and for the roster battles it will help settle in the 24 hours that follow.
Why This Game Matters More Than a Normal Preseason Finale
Every team faces the same deadline: rosters must be cut from up to 91 players down to 53 by 5:00 PM CDT on Sunday, one day after this game wraps up. That timing turns Saturday night into the last meaningful evaluation window for players fighting for a roster spot, rather than a starting job. For those players, this isn’t preseason filler — it’s the final piece of film that could decide whether they’re on an NFL roster next week or updating their LinkedIn.
Tennessee enters the game unbeaten in preseason at 2-0, having rallied from a 16-3 deficit to beat the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks 19-16 in Week 2 — a comeback capped by a D’Ernest Johnson touchdown run with under six minutes remaining. Chicago, by contrast, sits at 1-1 after a 27-9 loss at Cincinnati in Week 2, a game in which starting quarterback Caleb Williams saw limited action, completing just two of five passes for 28 yards across a single series.
The Headline Storyline: Williams Meets Ward
Saturday marks the first time Caleb Williams and Cam Ward share an NFL field as professionals. The two quarterbacks have a shared history that predates their pro careers — Williams was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and Ward followed as the No. 1 pick a year later. Their only previous meeting on a football field came on October 8, 2022, when Ward’s Washington State squad visited Williams and USC in college.
Neither has had a smooth path through this preseason. Ward has looked notably better in practice reps than in game action so far, having completed 8 of 12 passes for 69 yards across three drives against Seattle in Week 2, but without a touchdown to show for it through two exhibition outings. Williams, meanwhile, has barely played, with head coach Ben Johnson yet to confirm as of Friday whether his starters will see the field at all on Saturday — a pattern that’s held through Chicago’s first two preseason games.
Bad Blood from the Joint Practice
This game arrives with an unusual amount of tension already on the record. The two teams held a joint practice on Thursday at Vanderbilt Health Football Center, and it didn’t stay entirely civil — multiple skirmishes broke out, and Titans head coach Robert Saleh publicly accused Bears safety Xavier Woods, a former Titan, of taking a cheap shot on wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson, who left practice to be evaluated for a concussion. Saleh has been vocal that he values joint practices over the preseason games themselves for evaluation purposes, and by most accounts, Tennessee got the better of Thursday’s session — though it fell short of a lopsided affair.
Whether that intensity carries over into Saturday’s actual game remains one of the more interesting subplots to watch, particularly if reserves and roster-bubble players view it as an opportunity to make a statement.
Roster Battles Worth Watching
For the players who will actually see extended snaps, the stakes are individual and immediate:
- Bears backfield depth: The competition for Chicago’s third running back spot, between Salvon Ahmed and Roschon Johnson, remains unresolved heading into the finale.
- Bears defensive tackle depth: With starter Gervon Dexter Sr. involved in trade rumors, the defensive tackle room behind him gets one final evaluation before cuts.
- Bears backup quarterbacks: Tyson Bagent, Case Keenum, and Miller Moss have carried much of Chicago’s preseason offensive workload with Williams sidelined, combining for strong outings in both prior games.
- Titans rookie linebacker Anthony Hill Jr.: The second-round pick already became the first rookie in the 2026 preseason to record both an interception and seven tackles in a single game, and enters Saturday looking to build on that form.
Historical Context
This isn’t an unfamiliar building for Bears fans. Chicago beat Tennessee 51-20 at Nissan Stadium in a memorable 2012 preseason meeting that featured four forced fumbles from Charles Tillman and the final touchdown of Brian Urlacher’s career — a 46-yard interception return. The two sides also met in the 2024 regular season, with Chicago winning 24-17 at Soldier Field.
Broadcast and Viewing Details
Chicago-based viewers can catch the game on FOX 32, with Adam Amin on play-by-play, Jim Miller and Stacey Dales on analysis, and Jasmine Baker reporting from the sideline. Nationally, the game airs on NFL Network, with a rebroadcast available for anyone who misses the live window. Radio coverage runs through ESPN Chicago (1000 AM / 100.3 FM HD2) with Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, and Jason McKie on the call, plus a Spanish-language broadcast on Latino Mix 93.5 FM. On the Tennessee side, the game airs regionally on the Titans Preseason TV Network, led by flagship station WKRN-News 2 in Nashville, with Paul Burmeister and Charles Davis calling the action.
What Comes Next
Whatever happens on the field Saturday night, both franchises pivot immediately into the least glamorous part of the NFL calendar: trimming rosters from as many as 91 players down to the 53-man regular-season limit by 5:00 PM CDT on Sunday. Players on reserve/injured lists don’t count against that number, and clubs can begin building practice squads of up to 17 players the following day, August 31. For the players taking the field in Nashville on Saturday, that timeline is the real reason this game matters — not the final score, but the final impression.
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