The Tennessee Titans dropped a very winnable game in Week 12 against the Cincinnati Bengals, snapping their two-game win streak and reducing their record to 7-4.
Tennessee’s offense was actually able to move the ball through the air in this game, but the unit simply couldn’t finish drives. Play-calling and blocking were issues, and the ground game once again couldn’t get anything going.
It wasn’t the defense’s best effort by any stretch, but holding one of the NFL’s best offenses to just 20 points is nothing to be ashamed about.
With all that said, let’s dive a bit deeper and take a look at the biggest takeaways from Sunday’s loss.
Red zone failures were the difference
Coming into this game, the Titans were the No. 2 offense in the red zone this season, scoring touchdowns on just a shade under 75 percent of their red zone trips.
Tennessee had three red zone trips in Week 12, but none of them resulted in touchdowns. Instead, the Titans settled for three field goals, making two.
Tennessee’s inability to score touchdowns in the red zone certainly wasn’t the only reason the Titans lost this game, but in a contest that ended 20-16, the struggles deep in Bengals territory were definitely the biggest.
Todd Downing deserves blame
After two solid games as a play-caller, we saw the Todd Downing we all know and despise in Week 12.
The play-calling was predictable and lacked creativity, and he called for third-down passes short of the sticks on multiple occasions. It was also obvious Downing stuck with the run for too long.
Making matters worse, he’s still drawing up plays where Geoff Swaim is the primary target when he has two more talented pass-catching tight ends in Austin Hooper and Chig Okonkwo.
Offensive line concerns
For three straight weeks now the Titans’ offensive line has done a terrible job blocking for the run, leaving Derrick Henry no room to operate. In his last three games, Henry has failed to break the century mark and has averaged 2.8, 3.1 and 2.2 yards per carry in that span.
Hopefully that will change with “DHenber” upon us, but that will still require the group upfront to block in order to make it happen.
As if that and Downing’s play-calling didn’t make things difficult enough for the offense on Sunday, the offensive line also struggled in pass protection.
Anyone trying to put this loss on Ryan Tannehill is just plain wrong. In fact, the veteran should be commended for what he was able to do with everything negative going on around him.
Defense was good enough
There wasn’t a lot to like about the defense’s performance in Week 12, but this unit did enough to help the Titans win this game. Once again, it was Tennessee’s offense that failed to answer the bell.
The Titans’ run defense did indeed get worked more often than usual on Sunday, but Tennessee still only allowed 3.9 yards per carry, and 3.4 to Cincinnati’s leading rusher, Samaje Perine.
Tee Higgins had a great game, but he had to earn a lot of those catches in what were contested situations. He was simply bigger and stronger than the smaller cornerbacks guarding him.
Most importantly, the pass-rush was unable to generate much pressure on Joe Burrow, which only made the secondary’s job more difficult, and the young signal-caller was able to make some key plays with his legs.
However, in all, the Bengals didn’t throw for 300 yards, barely rushed for 100 yards on 3.9 yards per, and one of the most potent offenses in the NFL only scored 20 points (23 if you include what would’ve been a field goal at the end). Making the effort more impressive, Denico Autry didn’t even play.
If you had asked me before the game if I would take a 20 or even 23-point effort from an Autry-less defense, not only would I have taken it, but I also would’ve thought the Titans would have a good chance to win such a game.
Treylon Burks proves Week 11 was no fluke
After reeling in two big gains in Week 11 in what was a career day for him, Burks showed his big-play ability was no fluke.
Not only did the rookie record his second 50-plus-yard catch in as many weeks, he did so by earning every bit of it. Burks came down with an impressive contested catch that gained 51 yards in the third quarter.
The catch also set the Titans up for three of their six second-half points. Burks showed great hustle on another play when he recovered Henry’s fumble in the end zone for his first career touchdown.
Burks has quickly become the Titans’ go-to option in the passing game, and that means he needs to be on the field more often.
That still is not happening enough, and it’s yet another issue we have with Downing. But at least he’s inching closer, as Burks had just five less snaps than Nick Westbrook-Ihine, and eight less than Robert Woods.
His 38 snaps on Sunday were the second-most of his career as well.
