Titans' Marcus Mariota leads long touchdown drive vs. Bears after disjointed first half

Jason Wolf
The Tennessean
Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) throws the ball in the second quarter of a preseason game against the Bears on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, at Nissan Stadium.

Marcus Mariota and the Titans’ starting offense played into the fourth quarter of the third preseason game against the Bears on Sunday at Nissan Stadium, after a disjointed first half resulted in a 12-0 deficit.

Derrick Henry broke the shutout with a 3-yard touchdown catch to begin the fourth quarter, capping an 11-play, 90-yard, 5 ½-minute drive.

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"It was a good way to finish," Mariota said. "Obviously it wasn't the way we wanted to play, but it's good we were able to find a rhythm, go down and score, finish on a good note. But that being said, we've got a lot of work to do, and we'll find ways to improve."

Mariota completed 12 of 21 pass attempts for 193 yards, a touchdown and a 103.9 passer rating. He also rushed for 12 yards on two carries and was sacked twice.

The touchdown, originally ruled a rushing score, was later reevaluated and switched to a pass.

"It was all right. Not to the level that I expect myself to play," Mariota said about his performance as a whole. "There are things, especially on third down, in terms of getting guys going in the right direction, communicating. I definitely can do a better job of that, and I will."

Mariota was 7-of-13 for 99 yards at halftime, with rookie wide receiver Taywan Taylor accounting for 48 of those yards on a long catch and run on third-and-31 in the second quarter.

But the Titans remained scoreless when Ryan Succop missed a 40-yard field-goal attempt.

"Too many mistakes," Titans coach Mike Mularkey said. "We've got a lot of work to do and we've got two weeks to do it. But same old thing with making too many mistakes. We have to overcome ourselves, let alone beat anybody."

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DeMarco Murray (hamstring) made his preseason debut and rushed for 16 yards on six carries.

Bears quarterback Mike Glennon completed 11 of 18 attempts for 134 yards, a touchdown and a 102.5 rating in the first half, before being replaced by rookie Mitchell Trubisky, the second overall pick in the draft. Glennon led the Bears 96 yards for a touchdown on Chicago's first possession. Former Titans receiver Kendall Wright had three catches for 35 yards on the drive.

Last week, Mariota led the Titans to a 10-0 lead against the Panthers, directing scoring drives on the team's first two possessions before taking a seat.

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Mariota was working with a depleted wide receiver corps: Corey Davis (hamstring) and Eric Decker (ankle) remained out this week, and Harry Douglas (knee) also missed the game.

Rishard Matthews had a team-high 54 receiving yards on three catches. 

Tajae Sharpe (foot) made his preseason debut after being activated off the PUP list on Monday. He had one catch for 10 yards.

"With the injury to Harry, we didn't plan on playing Tajae as much as we did today," Mularkey said. "We're kind of struggling out there with the injuries."

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