It is really not unprecedented to watch a perennial playoff team in the National Football League become an also-ran in the blink of an eye. That has been the negative side of free agency, and the salary cap era. That seems to be what’s going on these days in Nashville. With the final week of the 2024 regular-season upon us, the Tennessee Titans have gone from being the top seed in the AFC playoffs three years ago, to being tied with the Patriots, Browns, and Giants for the worst win-loss record (3-13) in the league.
Brian Callahan’s club is currently in freefall
Let’s take the DeLorean back to 2018. The Titans replaced head coach Mike Mularkey with Mike Vrabel. He would enjoy a six-year run with the club, leading the team to a winning campaign in each of his first four seasons. From 2019-21, Tennessee was a playoff staple. The wild card Titans reached the AFC title game in 2019, and then captured the AFC South in back-to-back years.
In 2020, Vrabel’s club won the division with an 11-5 record, but were one-and-done come playoff time. In ’21, the Titans were again the top dog in the AFC South with a 12-5 mark, and that was good enough to have homefield advantage throughout the conference playoffs. Again, Vrabel’s squad was knocked off at home, this time in the divisional round. A year later, Tennessee jumped out to a 7-3 start, and appeared to be on the path to the postseason again.
More importantly the Titans had clearly established themselves as the supreme ruler of the division. All told, Vrabel put together a combined 19-8 resume in his first 27 games vs. the Titans’ AFC South rivals. That included 5-1 marks in 2020 and ’21, and three straight divisional wins during his club’s 7-3 start in 2022.
The ugly numbers
Since then, under Vrabel (1-8) and Brian Callahan (1-4), Tennessee is a disturbing 2-12 in divisional contests. The Titans are just 1-6 both at home and on the road during this miserable stretch vs. their divisional foes. All told, 11 of those 14 games have been decided by single digits, and the Titans have been on the short end of nine of those close setbacks—including a pair in overtime in 2023.
Entering Sunday’s rematch with the AFC South champion Texans in Nashville, the Titans have lost three straight games vs. their divisional foes. This season, the club has already been swept by both Indianapolis and Jacksonville. Both of those clubs will finish with losing records in 2024. The Jaguars have won only four games this season, two vs. Tennessee, while sporting a 2-12 record vs. the rest of the NFL this season.
It’s going to be interesting on Sunday at Nashville as the team will use both Will Levis and Mason Rudolph on Sunday, the former getting the start. Can Callahan’s club end 2024 on a high note as they did a year ago, when they surprised the Jaguars and wound up knocking them out of the playoffs? Or are they destined to lose for the 14th time this season, their worst finish since a 2-14 mark in 2014?