With the Tennessee Titans’ 2022 season in the books, it’s time for one last NFL power rankings round-up ahead of the offseason.
We start with Dan Hanzus of NFL.com, who places the Titans at No. 22 on his list, which is actually three spots higher than they were the week prior. Here’s what he had to say:
The Titans put up a valiant fight in Week 18, outplaying the favored Jaguars for 55 minutes before a disastrous turnover created the touchdown that served as the difference in a 20-16 defeat. While it’s obviously painful to lose a game and a division in such a dramatic manner, this is also a diminished team that was never going to make much noise in the playoffs. “We didn’t do a good enough job — we lost too many games,” coach Mike Vrabel said Monday. “That self-reflection, nobody would evaluate that they did a good enough job because we didn’t win. … The short answer is: It wasn’t good enough.” Changes are inevitable, and they began Monday with the announcement that offensive coordinator Todd Downing and three other assistants had been let go.
Now, the rest of our power rankings round-up as the Titans prepare for what should be an interesting offseason.
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports: 20
They need to figure out their quarterback situation. Is Ryan Tannehill the guy? If not, who will be?
Bo Wulf, The Athletic: 28
Every team in the AFC South had a losing streak of at least five games in 2022, with both the Titans and Colts ending the season on seven-game skids. Woof.
This was a disastrous season for the Titans, who watched A.J. Brown excel in Philadelphia while their passing offense was more stuck than ever, then fired their general manager, watched their defense collapse and bypassed their third-round rookie to play a journeyman in a loser-goes-home match with Ryan Tannehill out for the season. Any optimism about the future is based on faith in Mike Vrabel and the division’s folly.
MMQB: 20
A year ago the Titans were the AFC’s No. 1 seed. Then they traded away A.J. Brown, fired their GM midseason, lost seven straight games to close out the year and look to be in a very different state as a franchise. The fact that Josh Dobbs came off the Lions’ practice squad to come start for Tennessee in a must-win game with playoff ramifications cannot be a good sign for Malik Willis.
Frank Schwab, Yahoo Sports: 21
It’s hard to imagine a more disappointing way to go into the offseason than turning a 7-3 start into a 7-10 final record, and a Week 18 loss in the AFC South championship after leading with three minutes left. We’ve seen the flaws in the roster for a while and they all seemed to catch up to Tennessee at once. There’s a lot of work to be done this offseason. It started Monday with the team firing offensive coordinator Todd Downing.
Josh Schrock, NBC Sports: 25
25. Tennessee Titans (7-10): I’m just thankful we don’t have to watch the Titans in the playoffs.
Mike Florio, ProFootballTalk: 21
21. Titans (7-10; No. 19): From 7-3 to 7-10, and plenty of changes coming.
Dalton Miller, Pro Football Network: 24
Dalton Miller, Pro Football Network:
As Kevin Byard put frankly, “A lot of questions have to be answered with this franchise, so we’ll see what happens over the next few months.”
There is an out on Ryan Tannehill’s contract that would free up quite a bit of money against Tennessee’s cap, making his future unknown as we head into the offseason. However, since he is under contract, the Titans remain in the fourth tier. They also have no indication that Malik Willis is ready to be a starter, or even play consistent snaps, at the NFL level.
But Tennessee’s offensive woes were less about QB play and more about the crumbling surroundings around the quarterback. They need help on the outside at receiver, and their offensive line disintegrated, hurting both the run game and the passing attack. Todd Downing hasn’t proven to be a positive force for the offense, either.
A defense that started strong fell apart as injuries mounted. There are many fine pieces on the defense, but the Titans need to remain healthy, and the new general manager must not whiff in free agency the way Jon Robinson did.
