In week twelve, the Bears hosted the 5-6 Tennessee Titans. The Bears were 6-5 in the all-time series, most recently a 51-20 victory in 2012, though the Bears lost the last game in Chicago, a 31-24 defeat in 2008. With Jay Cutler sidelined, Matt Barkley made his first career NFL start against a Dick LeBeau-led defense that blitzed often; on second down, the Titans recorded 12 sacks, second-most in the league. For the Bears defense, they faced an offense powered by a running game featuring DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry, while quarterback Marcus Mariota led a unit that ranked eighth in the NFL in five-minute drives and a fifth-ranked third down conversion rate. Despite the recent woes, Jeff Joniak wrote the Bears needed to maintain a high morale and allow younger players to develop, both as players and as a team. On their opening drive, the Bears reached the Titans' 33-yard line before stalling and turning the ball over on downs. After the Titans punted, the Bears scored first when Barkley threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Brown, their first career touchdowns. The Titans responded with Henry's 11-yard touchdown run with four seconds left in the first quarter, followed by Mariota throwing a four-yard touchdown pass to Delanie Walker in the second quarter. Chicago attempted to score again when they entered Tennessee's red zone on their next drive, but Barkley's pass for Ben Braunecker was intercepted by Wesley Woodyard. The next two drives of the game ended with a punt before Mariota threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Rishard Matthews to give the Titans a 21-7 entering halftime. To start the second half, Connor Barth attempted a surprise onside kick, which bounced off Titan Nate Palmer as Adrian Amos recovered. The Bears took advantage to drive to the Titan's five-yard line, but were unable to score as Barkley's pass for Cameron Meredith was intercepted by Da'Norris Searcy in the endzone. Tennessee's Ryan Succop kicked field goals of 19 and 31 yards to increase the lead to 20 points. In the fourth quarter, Barkley began to lead a comeback as he led a 75-yard drive that ended with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Marquess Wilson, followed by a 69-yard scoring drive that concluded with a six-yard touchdown pass to Deonte Thompson to narrow the score to 27-21. The Titans were forced to punt on their next possession with 1:56 left in the game. Barkley moved the Bears downfield with 14-, 21- and 23-yard passes to Wilson, where they reached the Titans' seven-yard line to create a first-and-goal situation with 47 seconds left. Barkley's first pass to Josh Bellamy, which would have resulted in a touchdown, was dropped. His next two passes to Brown and Thompson also fell incomplete. On fourth-and-goal, Thompson dropped a Barkley pass in the back of the endzone to result in a turnover on downs. In addition to the two late drops by Bellamy and Thompson, the Bears as a whole struggled with drops, with ten total in the game and eight in the fourth quarter.. Who caught Barkley's first career touchdown?