Tennessee Titans blueprint for a ring
It is a dark time in Nashville and after a game where he made critical mistakes, Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill is under pressure.
Right now the narrative is that the Titans will never win a Super Bowl with Ryan Tannehill because he isn’t an elite quarterback. The good news for Titans fans is, that isn’t really how Super Bowls work.
They don’t always get decided by which quarterback lights up the other team, and in reality, it is rare that the best quarterback in the NFL wins the title.
Three years ago the New England Patriots won a game where Tom Brady had 0 TDs and an INT. Six years ago, the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl against MVP Cam Newton and Peyton Manning’s arm looked like limp noodles tied together underneath an orange uniform.
More often than not it is the healthiest team and the team with the most playmakers on both sides of the ball. Sometimes, elite quarterbacks make it to the playoffs and then get wrecked by teams with worse quarterbacks but better coaching and supporting talent.
Last year, the Kansas City Chiefs went to the Super Bowl armed with Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and every skill player they had throughout the entire season. They lost that game 31-9 and Patrick Mahomes had 0 TDs and 2 INTs.
A few years before that a healthy Peyton Manning took his record-setting offense into a game against the Seattle Seahawks and got decimated 43-8.
Sometimes you get an elite quarterback with a healthy offense that plays like an elite quarterback and weird things just happen. Look at the Super Bowls where Tom Brady has lost. Are you telling me that Eli Manning (twice) and Nick Foles are better than Brady at his best? That isn’t even talking about the time when he nearly lost to Matt Ryan.
The point is, having an elite quarterback is great but it isn’t the only path to the Super Bowl and it isn’t even the only path to winning a Super Bowl. If it were, the last decade would have ended with rings for Cam Newton and Aaron Rodgers and even more rings for Tom Brady.
So, if the Tennessee Titans are going to be a team that doesn’t have an elite quarterback to ride to the playoffs, they are going to have to roll up their sleeves and figure out how to make the most out of Ryan Tannehill who is normally good and sometimes great in the right scheme.