Not much has gone right for the Titans in 2025. Despite some very promising young talent on offense and a defense led by a reinvigorated Jeffery Simmons, Tennessee has generally been unable to get out of its own way. Silly mistakes, poor leadership, and lack of energy will outweigh any amount of talent, and these have defined the Titans early in the season.
However, the script was flipped on Sunday, and after nearly falling behind 28-6 in the third quarter, it was the opposing team whose silly mistakes led to a full collapse. And it was the Titans who showed the resilience and efficiency to capitalize.
So then why-- after what could have been a season-changing comeback performance-- are some Titans fans still feeling haunted by the ghosts of the past? Well, those who spend the entirety of Sunday watching football and football coverage can tell you... and it has nothing to do with Halloween.
Titans fans are still missing A.J. Brown despite drama in Philadelphia
In the days leading up to Sunday, much of the sports talk shows featured lengthy discussions about what was wrong with a 4-0 team that won the Super Bowl last year. Yeah, having to hear that while the Titans were seeking their first win felt like a first-world problem. But the fact that these conversations all centered around a superstar receiver who was drafted by Tennessee and traded for a bag of magic beans just made it worse.
Maybe some fans took solace in the possibility that A.J. Brown has become a full-fledged diva receiver. Former GM Jon Robinson already had "I told you so" typed and ready to post, but any football fan with a functional brain would gladly take some cryptic tweets and diva tendencies for an elite offensive weapon with Brown's production. Not to mention the Lombardi Trophy, which the Eagles would not have won without him.
Then on Sunday morning, those who watched ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown were subjected to an in-depth, seven-minute piece about Brown's reading habits and his unquenchable thirst to be the best version of himself.
The Eagles would go on to lose their first game of the season, and perhaps force-feeding the receivers and abandoning their offensive identity (only running the ball 11 times, despite a two-touchdown lead in the second half) against an elite pass defense were the cause. But no matter how Philly performed on Sunday, Titans fans cannot help but remember the trade of a 26-year-old superstar receiver (while Derrick Henry, Ryan Tannehill, and the rest of the pieces were in place to win now) as the beginning of the end for their run as a contender.
Patriots HC Mike Vrabel reminds the Titans what they lost
By Sunday evening, Titans fans were feeling relatively good. The Eagles had lost by forcing the ball to Brown in the early window, and the Titans won with an amazing late-game performance from Cam Ward. Then came Sunday Night Football, and the coach who was not good enough for Tennessee was the star of the show.
Feelings on the firing of Mike Vrabel were mixed. It was a fairly shocking development. Many in the Titans community were very vocal about the need for change. Whether you fit into the pro- or anti-Vrabel camp at the time, it should now be obvious that the coffin which was built with the A.J. Brown trade was sealed with its final nail when Vrabel was fired.
Vrabel has immediately improved the culture in New England, following the lackluster end of the Bill Belichick era and one very bad year under Jerod Mayo. Titans fans will certainly recognize the hard-nosed, may-not-be-pretty-but-it-wins-games style of football now being played by the Patriots. Vrabel may not be an offensive guru with an innovative system, but he is one of the most brilliant strategists in the game.
He is also an outstanding leader, and his teams invariably end up being a reflection of him. This was displayed perfectly as he coached circles around Sean McDermott, and the situational excellence of the Patriots brought down the best team in the league. It is fair to question how serious New England is as a contender in the AFC this year, but the very fact that it is even a discussion shows how much-- and how quickly-- they have improved under his leadership.
The Ghost of Titans Future
While we would like to believe that Sunday's win marked a turning of the corner for Tennessee, it is far more likely that it simply bought a bad coach a few more weeks. Hopefully Ward and other young players will continue to improve despite the situation, and the next head coach will not have to spend his first year undoing the damage of the previous regime...*cough* Caleb Williams.