The Tennessee Titans played a nice game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night, but their 5-3 record is not fooling anyone. After starting the 2022 season 0-2, the Titans won their next five and saw themselves standing close to the very top of the AFC. Led by a lethal rushing attack and strong defense, the Titans employ more of an old-school approach to winning.
Fortunately, it’s worked over the last couple of seasons as Ryan Tannehill’s passing production has fallen off a bit and Derrick Henry continues to dominate as a runner. Their 5-2 record going into the game on Sunday was one of the best in the AFC.
However, digging deeper and it’s clear that the Titans are simply frauds and, while they will make the playoffs, they won’t win a playoff game. Their team was similar last season. They somehow finished 12-5 and secured the top seed in the playoffs before losing a stinker to the Bengals at home.
Coming into the 2022 season, not much changed besides trading AJ Brown for Treylon Burks, the draft pick they got back in the trade. Their offensive line remained a huge question mark and more of a question was put on their pass catchers without Brown.
Firstly, the Titans have the privilege of playing in the weakest division in football. Sharing a division with the Colts, Texans, and Jaguars, three of the worst teams in football, has allowed them to boast a 3-0 record in the division thus far, which makes them 2-3 out of the AFC South.
The Titans have a negative point differential. They score the 24th most points per game this season, failing to average 20 points a game. Their Expected W-L, which is a statistic provided by Pro Football Reference, has them a 3.7-4.3, or a 4-4 record.
Robert Woods leads the team with just 256 receiving yards, and outside of Derrick Henry, only one other player on their roster has more than 100 rushing yards. Ryan Tannehill has also seen a huge drop in his passing production over the last two seasons.
In 2019 and 2020, Tannehill threw for 55 touchdowns against just 13 interceptions and earned a whopping 110.6 passer rating. He was one of the most efficient QBs in the NFL during this time. Since the beginning of the 2021 season, Tannehill has thrown for 27 touchdowns on 17 interceptions.
The departure of Arthur Smith, their former offensive coordinator, has likely played a huge part in Tannehill’s drop in production. The Titans are a one dimensional, old school football team. In the 1980s, they’d be the best team in the league, but they haven’t beaten anyone with a winning record and are in a horrid division.