Back in Week 12 at Houston, Brian Callahan’s team came up with its biggest win of the season. A 32-27 upset of the division-leading (and now AFC South champion) Texans at Houston was only the team’s third win of the season, but it could have been a springboard to a strong finish.
Instead, the Tennessee Titans are now in the midst of their third three-game losing streak of the season. It’s been a year of disappointment and inconsistency…save for one very troubling aspect.
Another mistake-filled performance by the Titans
Callahan talked about Sunday’s 37-27 home loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, a game in which the team gave up the football a half-dozen times.
“And then obviously, you can't win with six turnovers. That's a good football team, you can't turn the ball over six times. We gave up 24 points off the turnovers. That's a game that we played well enough to start—I mean, I thought we had enough early in that game to make it a dogfight, and we ended up giving them too many opportunities against a good offense like that, they capitalized on. And it wasn't good enough…”
Week 16 will see the Titans clash with the Indianapolis Colts for the second time this season. After 15 weeks and 14 games this season, Callahan’s club has turned over the pigskin a total of 29 times, the most in the league. Meanwhile, the Titans have scored only 27 touchdowns during their 3-11 campaign. It's been one to forget.
Talk about consistency? Only twice in 14 games this season have the Titans played turnover-free football. Recurring turnovers have prevented the Titans from putting forth clean performances.
The last time the team led the league in turnovers was back in 2015. The Titans and Cowboys tied for the NFL lead by giving up the football 33 times. A year ago, Mike Vrabel’s Titans finished 6-11 but gave up the ball only 20 times in 17 contests. They were much more disciplined.
Quarterbacks Will Levis (17) and Mason Rudolph (6) have combined for 23 of those 29 miscues. The former has had four of his 12 interceptions returned for scores. On Wednesday, it was announced that Rudolph will get the start this week at Indianapolis.
It has been a nightmare debut for Callahan as an NFL sideline leader. Will things get worse before they get better the next three weeks?