Is the Titans Week 9 defensive clinic a sign of things to come?
Is it too dramatic to say that the Tennessee Titans changed overnight? Or that Jeffery Simmons is the best non-Aaron Donald interior defensive lineman in the NFL? Or that the mere presence of Dean Pees in front of the Titans was enough to transform them into the group we all wanted them to be?
Yes. But also, no. But also… maybe?
Look, everything is backward this season. In a year where the preseason was shut down entirely and offseason training was kept to a minimum, maybe the Tennessee Titans defense has always been good– and just needed a while to shake off the rust.
Or maybe they just needed a wake-up call in the form of getting torched by a rookie quarterback on a one-win team. Maybe they needed the help of a young All-Pro cornerback to completely elevate their group.
Maybe the aura of Dean Pees just brings with it the magic of strong defensive play. (I’m not letting go of this as a possibility)
Whatever the reason is, be it an aberration or otherwise (or have you heard my theory on Dean Pees), the Tennessee Titans defense looked… dare I say, good, last Sunday against the Chicago Bears.
Better yet, they dusted off their cape and played the role of hero that they had grown accustomed to in seasons past, bailing out the offense after what might have been their worst showing of the season.
And ahead of a game with countless implications, from AFC South supremacy, to overall momentum, to AFC playoff seeding, to the glory of bragging rights and retweeting outdated trash talk from an opposing fan base– the Tennessee Titans might have done themselves a huge favor. They might have got right, and just at the right time.
With the division-rival Indianapolis Colts coming to town and bringing their elite defense with them if the Titans want to hang tough to pull out a win, they’ll need to bring their A-Game on defense to match the effort that the Colts are sure to bring.
They’ll need to bring an effort that looks close to the one they had against the Bears.
Context
Might as well throw some cold water now, before the hype train truly starts to pick up steam.
But one game does not make the Titans defense elite. One strong showing against one of the worst offenses in the NFL doesn’t mean the Titans’ problems are fixed. One reprieve, however satisfying, from the Titans everpresent third-down woes, doesn’t mean those problems are gone.
I’m reminded of time after time where the Tennessee Titans offense finally, finally, looked good– only to come out and lay an egg the following week. There was that two-game stretch in 2018, after wins against the Cowboys and Patriots, where it all looked effortless on offense. That, followed up with a 38-10 loss to the Colts. Or the Browns game to start last season, hanging 43 points on the road, only to come back home and lose 19-17 to the Colts (why is it always the Colts?)
The Tennessee Titans have made a habit over the years of being the football equivalent to Forrest Gump’s ‘Box of Chocolates’ analogy. And there’s no guarantee that after what happened last week, this game against the Colts will go the way the defense wants it to. Especially considering that it took a game against statistically one of the worst offenses in the NFL for the Titans to look good again on defense.
The Chicago Bears kind of look like, well, like Titans teams of past years. A group that, no matter how bad a team’s defense had played the previous week, they could always look good against Tennessee. As it stands now, Chicago ranks 29th in yards per game, 29th in yards per play, 28th in Offensive DVOA, and 31st in yards per play.
And that’s while playing at full strength. The Bears came into the game without the help of three of their regular starters on the offensive line– and the inexperience showed throughout the contest.
So yes, last week’s performance against Chicago should be taken with a grain of salt… that said…
This Is The Greatest Defense in NFL History
The Titans had by far, unequivocally, their best game of the season on defense. Not a high bar to clear, I know, but Tennesse played like a team on a mission in Week 9. A mission to actually be serviceable on defense.
Mission accomplished, and then some. The overall box score will look good in the Titans favor, but it won’t tell the full story of just how Chicago was clearly outmatched until an impressive showing in garbage time.
Up until the Titans took a 21-point lead early in the fourth quarter, and the gameplan became more conservative, the defense was controlling the game in ways they hadn’t done all season.
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One number to know: 0. That’s how many points Chicago had up until the fourth quarter. Until then, the Bears had six drives end in punts, three of which coming in the form of three-and-outs, one ending in a fumble, one ending with a turnover on downs, and one marking the end of the half.
All told, Chicago’s offense ended the first half with 90 net yards of offense, and just 157 before their first scoring drive began. So much of the Titans success throughout the game came, finally, in part due to some excellent coverage– taking away the deep ball and limiting explosive plays. Despite completing 18 of his 26 passes before their first scoring drive, which began late in the third quarter, Nick Foles managed only 167 yards through the air. And in the first half alone, Tennessee held the Bears quarterback to just 10/17 in the passing game.
The final game numbers will look a bit different. The Bears ended with over 125 yards more total offense than the Titans and twice as many first downs. But much of what Chicago managed to put together came at the end of the game, with a win essentially wrapped up for Tennessee. A defensive effort that strong had escaped the Titans until that Week 9 win, and it came in large part due to two areas the team has struggled in throughout the year– bringing the quarterback down and getting stops on third down.
Fixing The Issues
The Tennessee Titans held the Chicago Bears to 2/15 on third down.
Maybe that didn’t sink in.
The Tennessee Titans, the team that had previously been allowing teams to convert on 62% of their third-down conversions, a team that was on pace for the worst third-down defense in the HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE, held a team to just two successful third-down conversions on 15 attempts.
The Titans were so bad on third down defense that even after their stellar performance on Sunday, their success rate went down by 7% and they’re still the league’s worst third-down defense. But, it’s a step in the right direction. A step in the right direction in what is far and away the biggest problem area on the Titans defense.
Tennessee, perhaps surprisingly, is pretty good on defense on first and second down. They’re forcing the seventh most third-down attempts in the league, which shows that teams aren’t converting against them on early downs. If the Titans can hold firm on third-down from now on, they’ll be in good shape.
But if they can rush the quarterback like they did against the Bears, they’ll be in great shape. After not recording a game with over two sacks all season, and after not recording a single sack since Week 6 against the Houston Texans– the Titans finally broke out and got into the backfield, bringing down Nike Foles three times, and pressuring him a lot more.
It was a breath of fresh air for a Titans defense that had been struggling in those two categories, and when working in tandem with the league’s best run stopper in Jeffery Simmons and a revamped secondary with the addition of Desmond King covering the slot, the Tennessee Titans defense suddenly looked solid. And just in time, too.
Ready For The Colts
The Indianapolis Colts offense was a nightmare matchup for the Week 8 version of the Titans defense.
This is a team built from the inside going out. A group with one of the best offensive lines in the league, starting a quarterback in a quick pass offense– all against a defense that struggled to generate pressure and allowed way too many open receivers early in the play. Maybe the Week 8 version of the Titans could have won in a shootout, but the Indianapolis defense is good enough to contain the Titans– the Week 8 Titans defense couldn’t quite say the same thing.
All of this, of course, is a problem that Tennessee is hoping to have put behind them after their Week 9 win. Nick Foles and the Bears offense also feature a quick-hit approach to the passing game, but it didn’t matter, the Titans controlled the line of scrimmage, generated pressure, and kept Foles uncomfortable and inaccurate through most of the game.
The Colts are also a team that, while not great on third down, have an offense more than capable of picking up a third and long against the Week 8 Titans. But once again, Week 9 showed a different story. Tennessee controlled the game on third downs and forced the Bears into consecutive three and outs through the first quarter.
With those problems ideally in the past, the potential new-look Titans defense might actually be a tough matchup for the Colts offense rather than the other way around. Indianapolis has only three games this season where they’ve run for fewer than 100 yards, and have a 1-2 record in those games. The Titans, meanwhile, have given up fewer than 100 rushing yards in four of their last five games– and are coming off a performance where they gave up just 56 yards on the ground.
The Titans might be equipped to limit the Colts run game, and force the offense into a one-dimensional group, manned by a mistake-prone Philip Rivers against a Titans defense that is tied for fifth in the NFL in total interceptions, and ninth in overall turnover percentage.
The Tennessee Titans maybe, just maybe, peaked at the right time. The group that struggled mightily in the past looked unrecognizable against the Bears in Week 9, and in the best way possible. If trends hold, this is a Titans defense that is well-equipped to shut down the Colts on Thursday– and to be the perfect companion piece for an elite Tennessee offense.