Trevis Gipson Steps Up to Lead Bears Defense in Win

Stories about his demostion from starter to third or fourth team defensive end didn't really motivate Bears defensive end Trevis Gipson.

Doubt always gets him going.

"I've been doubted my whole life," Gipson said. "That's what carries me. That's what carries the chip on my shoulder. That's what carries my pride and my courage."

Gipson ended a terrible week in his time with the Bears by making three quarterback hits, a sack and leading an overall defensive effort to make possible a 23-17 win over the Tennessee Titans in Saturday's preseason opener.

"I wanted to redeem myself, especially for the fans, especially for myself," Gipson said.

Told he was given credit for just one sack but had three quarterback hits, Gipson wasn't satisfied.

"That's not enough," he said. "That's not enough. I left a lot of plays out there."

Gipson was hardly the only thing about the defense coach Matt Eberflus had to smile about afterward on a day when the Bears had four of their defensive starters unavailable due to injuries or, in the case of Yannick Ngakoue, because he just arrived in Chicago this week. Jaquan Brisker, DeMarcus Walker and Tremaine Edmunds were those out injured .

Seven other sacks, dispersed throughout six other Bears showed at least their reserves have been upgraded in this area. They had only 20 as a team last year so eight sacks was a pretty good chunk for one game.

Former Rams outside linebacker Terrell Lewis had two of those from defensive end.

"A lot of good plays by him today," coach Matt Eberflus said. "Of course, he can rush the passer, we know that for sure. But the one thing the D-line's got to know is that we have to be onsides because it was a third-and-four down there, and we jumped offsides and that made it third-and-two."

There is no "we." It was Lewis jumping offsides on third-and-goal but it was at the 5. It put the ball at the 2 1/2-yard line and two plays later on fourth-and-goal Tennessee's Hassan Haskins was able to do a Walter Payton-type plunge over the top for a 1-yard TD to tie the game in the second quarter, 14-14.

Another player who made a mistake was rookie cornerback Tyrique Stevenson when he committed a vague unsportsmanlike conduct penalty near the sidelines as the second man in on a tackle following a pass completion that had not been blown dead yet. It's possible he hit the player too high but this was never explained.

Regardless, Stevenson did enough to offset this mistake. He made a team-high seven tackles and also one pass defense, while recording a tackle for loss. His physical play brought a smile to Eberflus' face, because it had been the Bears coach who kept saying all along at training camp and OTAs that the rookie would be more evident when he could actually hit.

"The reason he is here is because of that, because of his length and because he is physical, and you saw that today," Eberflus said. "He made a lot of good tackles, crack-replace tackles, open-field space tackles. Even the (penalized) tackle on the sideline, we'll have to go look at that, but I thought that it was good technique.

"We'll have to see where it is. He's got to lower his target a litle bit maybe, but overall physical and he's been wired in the whole time. It's good to see him."

Another rookie who set the tone early was defensive tackle Zacch Pickens, their third-round pick. He sacked Titans rookie QB Will Levis from behind to start the sack parade on a third-and-9 for an 8-yard loss and forced a punt that the Bears quickly turned into Khalil Herbert's 56-yard TD play.

“I think he is focusing on the first task at hand, and that is get-off (speed)," Eberflus said. "I think he is doing that, and that's when he is at his best. When he beats (them) to the punch and gets off on the football and starts his day on the other side of the line of scrimmage, good things happen.

"Then they are off balance and he can use his hands and his long arms, so he is learning to do that and you saw that today in that sack he had."