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Titans Struggle, Improve To 9-0

The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 10, 2008

CHICAGO - LenDale White and Chris Johnson were on their way to history - the wrong kind, because they were running in reverse.

Even though they kept losing yards, the Tennessee Titans refused to lose the game. Now, they're 9-0 despite one of the worst rushing performances in franchise history: just 20 yards on the ground.

Kerry Collins threw for a season-high 289 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-14 win Sunday over the Chicago Bears.

"It's nice to win a ballgame and not play well," Coach Jeff Fisher said.

Particularly as they struggled when they weren't throwing the ball.

The 20 yards rushing were just one above their franchise low and they had minus-5 in the first half. It was a stunning performance for a team that was third in the league entering the game.

Even so, the Titans set a club record with their 12th straight regular-season win thanks to Collins and a defense that shut down Rex Grossman and the Bears.

Collins completed 12 straight passes at one point and was 30 of 41 without an interception. Brandon Jones caught eight passes for 82 yards, and Bo Scaife had 10 for 78 with a touchdown.

That was enough to make up for a miserable performance by the running backs.

White managed 14 yards on 10 attempts, although he had a touchdown in the fourth quarter. And Johnson carried 14 times for 8 yards.

"Did you look and see how many guys they put in the box?" Johnson said. "Eight, sometimes nine. They really wanted us to beat them throwing the ball."

Tennessee did that well enough to remain the NFL's lone unbeaten team.

Tennessee	0	7	7	7	-	21
Chicago	7	0	0	7	-	14

First Quarter

Chi-Forte 5 pass from Grossman (Gould kick), 7:06.

Second Quarter

Ten-Scaife 10 pass from Collins (Bironas kick), 8:39.

Third Quarter

Ten-Gage 12 pass from Collins (Bironas kick), 11:28.

Fourth Quarter

Ten-White 2 run (Bironas kick), 12:06.

Chi-Grossman 1 run (Gould kick), 4:55.

A-62,124.

	Ten	Chi
First downs	19	15
Total Net Yards	304	243
Rushes-yards	29-20	24-78
Passing	284	165
Punt Returns	4-43	2-13
Kickoff Returns	2-46	4-99
Interceptions Ret.	1-13	0-0
Comp-Att-Int	30-41-0	20-37-1
Sacked-Yards Lost	1-5	2-8
Punts	8-37.8	8-39.1
Fumbles-Lost	2-1	0-0
Penalties-Yards	8-55	3-20
Time of Possession	33:16	26:44

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Tennessee, White 10-14, Johnson 14-8, Collins 4-(minus 1), Hall 1-(minus 1). Chicago, Forte 20-72, McKie 2-5, Grossman 1-1, Jones 1-0.

PASSING-Tennessee, Collins 30-41-0-289. Chicago, Grossman 20-37-1-173.

RECEIVING-Tennessee, Scaife 10-78, B.Jones 8-82, Gage 4-47, Crumpler 3-35, Hawkins 2-26, Johnson 2-15, White 1-6. Chicago, Forte 7-54, Olsen 5-40, Hester 4-54, Clark 3-10, R.Davis 1-15.

MISSED FIELD GOALS-Tennessee, Bironas 49 (SH). Chicago, Gould 48 (BK).

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