NASHVILLE — Tyson Bagent gave the Chicago Bears just the offensive start to wrap up their preseason schedule in winning style.
Bagent connected with Zavion Thomas for a 97-yard touchdown on Chicago’s first offensive play, and the Bears beat the Tennessee Titans 24-15 on Saturday night in an exhibition battle of mostly backups at Nissan Stadium.
“When Tyson starts the game like that, I think he had, what? One incompletion?” Chicago coach Ben Johnson said. “He was on fire. So you felt like our offense was really rolling when that happened.”
With regular starting quarterback Caleb Williams watching from the sideline, Bagent completed his first seven passes for 155 yards, helping Chicago (2-1) convert its first four fourth downs.
Thomas, a third-round pick in April’s NFL draft, also caught all five passes thrown to him for a game-high 140 yards — with his first easily his best.
“I don’t know that I’ve thrown a touchdown of that many yards, and I believe that was Zavion Thomas’s very first play in the NFL,” Bagent said of the 97-yard catch-and-run score. “Greatest start in NFL history.”
Bagent was undrafted after playing from 2018-22 at Shepherd University, an NCAA Division II program in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. But he showed again why the Bears signed him to a two-year extension in August 2025 to back up Williams. Bagent was 16-of-17 passing for 208 yards with two touchdowns Saturday before leaving the game with a 14-9 halftime lead.
Tennessee first-year head coach Robert Saleh had talked of building reps for his starters through the preseason games for the Titans (2-1). After a joint practice against each preseason opponent, all of them NFC teams that made the playoffs last season, Saleh started essentially backups, with No. 1 quarterback Cam Ward watching Will Levis start in a final display before the NFL cut deadline Sunday.
“I was good with where we were at,” Saleh said of sitting almost all his starters. “I think we overshot our projected reps for the entire camp by over 60 reps. So overall it just felt very productive, and that was good.”
Tennessee, which has finished last in the AFC South Division the past three seasons, did start a trio of defensive regulars in end Jacob Martin, linebacker Cedric Gray and nickelback Marcus Harris. Bagent had no problem beating the rest of the Titans’ backup secondary featuring Keydrain Calligan and Micah Robinson.
Martin recovered a fumble credited to Bagent off a botched handoff on the second drive, prompting a celebration joined by All-Pro tackle Jeffery Simmons, end Jermaine Johnson II and rookie end Keldric Faulk, who watched from the sideline.
Levis was 14-of-22 passing for 143 yards with a fumble he recovered off a botched handoff. The 33rd overall pick in the 2023 draft and a former starter for the Titans, he drove them to a trio of field goals, the last as the first half expired.
Case Keenum took over in the third quarter for Chicago. Roschon Johnson ran for a 3-yard touchdown, with Cairo Santos adding a field goal to pad the lead to 24-9. Undrafted rookie quarterback Miller Moss played the fourth quarter for the Bears.
Hendon Hooker took over for Levis after halftime. Mitch Trubisky, signed in March to back up Ward, stayed on the sideline.
Tennessee’s lone touchdown came on a 9-yard run by D’Ernest Johnson late. The 2-point conversion attempt failed.
Slye finished the preseason with 11 field goals — the most by any player in an NFL preseason since Graham Gano had 13 in 2016 for the Carolina Panthers — while also becoming the first NFL player since the start of the 2017 preseason to make at least four in consecutive exhibitions. He added two more of the long-rangers in the first half against the Bears and finished by making all five from 50 yards out or longer.
Titans safety Kendall Brooks went to the locker room from the medical tent. Saleh said cornerback Joshua Williams is dealing with an injured pectoral muscle that has his status “in the air” for the Sept. 13 regular-season opener against the visiting New York Jets.