Jeffery Simmons is ready for prime time.
Simmons, who was traded from the Titans to the Bears this week, will play Monday night against the Seahawks, and then he will play next week Sunday night against the Buccaneers. The Bears are one of the NFL teams the league puts them on time slots, and that’s a big change for Simmons, who hasn’t played a prime-time game since 2023.
The Titans have no prime time games on the schedule this year. They had none last year either. They had a prime-time game in 2024, but Simmons missed it with an elbow injury. The last time Simmons played in the prime time was 2023, as the Titans just haven’t been a team the NFL wants to promote.
“It’s exciting. I haven’t played in a prime-time game since 2023,” Simmons said. “It’s been so long since I played in prime time. I think Thursday night against the Steelers was the last time I played in one. It’s exciting. When you have a game in prime time, it means you’re doing something right. With this team, with the success of last year and this year, what more can you ask for? To come into this big situation and help the first football game, with this team, with the success of the year last year as well. Here in Chicago I get to play Monday night, I think that’s every NFL player’s dream, I’m so excited to get out there.
Simmons said he’s so used to playing midday in Nashville on Sundays and then coming home in time to watch Sunday Night Football that he sees the prime-time games as special, as do the fans.
“I play at 12 o’clock every Sunday,” Simmons said. “To be able to come home and watch prime time games, then Thursday night games, you’re watching.”
A large national television audience will watch Simmons, something that has rarely happened during his eight-year NFL career.