Tennessee Titans vs Baltimore Ravens is a must-win game

Titans and Ravens are both in a must-win game.

The Tennessee Titans are now in an extremely dire situation heading into their Week 11 match-up with their former AFC Central rivals, the Baltimore Ravens.

Having lost three of their last four games, Tennessee looks to turn their fortunes around this Sunday as they head to Baltimore to take on the Ravens.

If they have any prayers of turning their season around and keeping their playoff hopes afloat, this is a game they absolutely have to win.

It’s been a big-time fall from grace for Tennessee over the past few weeks, as they held the No. 1 seed in the AFC entering their Week 7 match-up with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Their valiant second-half rally fell short, and they suffered their first loss of the season, losing 27-24 after a missed field goal by struggling kicker Stephen Gostkowski.

They would then lose a second straight game to the lowly Cincinnati Bengals before getting back in the win column against the struggling Chicago Bears.

Any thought of that becoming a “turning point in the season” for the Titans very quickly fell back down to Earth four days later on Thursday night football. You probably remember that the Titans spent that game, breaking the hearts of fans as they fell to the Colts, and gave up control of the AFC South and their playoff destiny in the process.

After a 5-0 start that had Tennessee riding high, they have since dropped to 6-3, the same record as five other teams in the AFC. They are now ninth in the AFC playoff picture, two spots outside of the seventh and final playoff spot, currently held by their opponents this week, the Baltimore Ravens.

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The Ravens and the Cleveland Browns (sitting at eighth) both hold tiebreakers over the Titans due to having a better win percentage in common games. The Miami Dolphins (fifth) and Las Vegas Raiders (sixth) have a better conference record than the Titans, and of course, the Colts (fourth) currently hold the lead in the division having defeated the Titans last week.

This puts Tennessee in a precarious situation. With so many other teams multiple games over .500, 9-7, the record the Titans have finished with each of the past four seasons, does not look like it will be enough to get the Titans to the playoffs this year.

The Ravens are coming off of a rough Sunday night loss to the New England Patriots, so they are not necessarily in a position to lose this game either. One would also think that they haven’t forgotten about the upset loss in the Divisional playoffs last season at the hands of the Titans, so this week will not be a cakewalk to say the very least.

There are certainly changes this team will have to make if they want to make a serious run at the playoffs akin to the one they had last season. The defense has to play much better than they had all season, and the offense cannot stagnate the way they have over the past four weeks.

If they can return to the form that they played at in the first five games of the season (especially in their Tuesday night blowout of the Buffalo Bills), then they have a good shot at returning to the playoffs.

It all starts with this week’s matchup with the Ravens.

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