The dust of the offseason has finally settled and looking ahead, there is a lot to like about the 2022 schedule for the Tennessee Titans.
The fact that they do not have to travel very far for their away games is a big plus, which is one advantage a lot of teams do not have this year.
Despite the race for the AFC South crown being closer than fans might hope, an AFC South title isn’t the only way for them to make the playoffs. The fact that they are not in the AFC West or AFC North also helps the Tennessee Titans since seven teams make the playoffs from each conference.
They can also feel good about having at least one extra day of rest in each month of the season thanks to some scheduling luck. Smart Tennessee Titans fans will remember that Mike Vrabel has historically done very well with extra time to prepare for games.
But what is not being talked about is one particular disadvantage in the Titans’ schedule and it has happened for three straight seasons.
Tennessee Titans cannot catch a break with bye weeks
Ever since the 2020 season began, the Titans have had bad luck with when in the season their bye weeks have landed. They have either been very early in the season, which halts any momentum the team has built up and allows the wear and tear to build up during the three-month march towards the playoffs.
If it isn’t too early, then it seems to come way too late in the season, which forces the Titans to play for months on end without any real rest and the roster attrition is obvious.
In 2020, the Titans were one of the unfortunate squads that had their bye week in Week 4, a time when no team in the league needs a rest. Yes, a COVID outbreak at the time forced one of their games to be moved from Week 4 to Week 7, but it does not change the fact that it was still a tough break for them.
Even then, having a bye week seven weeks into the year is still not great, albeit much more ideal than having one four weeks in.
Last year in 2021, the Titans’ bye week was not until Week 13, which was in December. Do you think that the historic amount of injuries they suffered might have had something to do with the team playing for three-straight months?
This year, the Titans are on the short end of the stick yet again, with their bye week landing six weeks into the season. Like Week 7, having a bye in Week 6 is better than having one in Week 4 or Week 13, but they would certainly rather have one in November, as they will go into the playoffs tired like they did in 2020. That is assuming they make them, of course.
With the game of football being so physically demanding, playing so many games in a row like the Titans have been forced to do takes a toll on the players. Especially with teams playing seventeen games per season instead of sixteen, you can imagine how certain teams who are dealt this hand may not have enough juice to go all the way in the end.
George Kittle has been publicly clamoring for the NFL to implement two bye weeks instead of one with the seventeenth game being added to the schedule, and he definitely is not alone in his opinion. It is extremely difficult to sustain high-level play across the entirety of the season when you can barely rest, and the Titans know firsthand how that feels.
At the end of the day, they are not the only ones with this disadvantage, and you can bet that Mike Vrabel will say this over and over again so that the team never has a chance to feel bad for themselves. Also, as I said at the top of the article, there are plenty of positives about the schedule for the Titans as well and there are plenty of teams that have it worse than the Two-Toned Blue.
Still, it is easy to look at where that bye week is and feel like the Tennessee Titans might have gotten the short end of the stick on that one.