The Tennessee Titans saw their playoff hopes officially come to an end in Week 15, although they were already nearly dead to begin with. Now, the Titans will be playing out the string over the final three games, with draft positioning and keeping Will Levis alive being the top-two priorities.
Of course, power rankings at this stage in the game mean even less than they normally do, but we’re out here playing out the string, also, so let’s get to our weekly round-up.
We start with the mothership, where USA TODAY’s Nate Davis has the Titans falling one spot from No. 22 to 23. Here’s his write-up:
23. Tennessee Titans (22): You’re a Bum, Vrabel. But seriously, maybe there was a lesson learned about rubbing Oilers history in Houston’s faces on Sunday.
It was awesome to see Vrabel honoring Bum Phillips by wearing the cowboy hat before the game, win or lose. It was just another symbol of the Titans respecting their franchise history.
Texans fans can thump their chests all they want, but it won’t bring the Oilers jerseys back to Houston. Sorry, not sorry.
We get the uniforms back.
That’s how this works, I don’t make the rules.Sorry, not sorry.
Too bad, so sad.
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) December 17, 2023
Now, the first of four remaining power rankings round-ups left in the 2023 season.
Jarrett Bailey, Touchdown Wire: 24 (+2)
Jarrett Bailey, Touchdown Wire:
Will Levis plays with the passion of a Four Loko filled with firecrackers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough to lift the Titans to their second straight win.
Barry Werner, List Wire: 24 (-2)
Blowing a double-digit lead to a team with Case Keenum at QB wasn’t good in 2013, let alone 2023.
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports: 26 (no change)
The good feeling from the Dolphins victory evaporated with the loss to the Texans. They blew a big lead in doing so, and now Will Levis is hurt.
NFL Nation, ESPN: 26 (-2)
The Titans’ red zone defense is the best in the NFL, with Tennessee allowing opposing offenses to score touchdowns on 37.3% of their visits inside the 20-yard line. What’s even more remarkable about the stat is how teams have gotten to the low red zone (inside the 10) 15 times over the past three games but scored only three touchdowns. Unfortunately, the Titans have won only one of the three games in which the red zone defense shined. Two of the losses involved late fourth-quarter scores.
Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News: 27 (-1)
The Titans’ offensive line woes keep catching up to them, and now the concerns are on the defensive line vs. the run, which used to be a signature strength. Here’s hoping Will Levis is OK to keep showing them he easily deserves to stick as their starter all next season.
Frank Schwab, Yahoo Sports: 25 (no change)
Not every story gets the perfect ending. It seems like Derrick Henry’s career with the Titans is nearing its end, and he hinted at that after Sunday’s loss. On Sunday, he had nine rushing yards on 16 carries, the lowest average per carry in his career. He’s playing on a bad team with a subpar offensive line. Henry deserved a better sendoff.
Dalton Miller, Pro Football Network: 26 (+1)
Dalton Miller, Pro Football Network:
One week after staging a miraculous fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Miami Dolphins, the Titans coughed up a lead of their own. Tennessee deserved to lose to the Houston Texans on Sunday after being outgained by nearly 140 yards, but the Titans held a 10-point lead at halftime. At least rookie QB Will Levis — who went down late in overtime — appears to have avoided a serious injury.
Josh Schrock, NBC Sports: 28 (-1)
The Titans were officially eliminated from playoff contention Sunday after losing to Case Keenum. At least they found their franchise quarterback in Will Levis. What a weird sentence to type.
Bleacher Report: 25 (-2)
The Titans run game was particularly dismal Sunday—Derrick Henry carried the ball 16 times for all of nine yards. But when asked by reporters why the Titans ran the ball 30 times despite zero success against 26 passes, head coach Mike Vrabel had an, um, interesting answer.
“Well, we have to be able to establish a run, whether that’s with Derrick (Henry), whether that’s Tyjae (Spears), whether that’s Jonathan Ward,” Vrabel said. “So, we’ve won a lot of football games with that formula. And we’ve seen where it’s been some inefficient runs, and then we break one and turn things around, and that didn’t happen.”
In other words, just because something is not working even a little, that’s no reason not to keep doing it.
With Tennessee now just playing out the string, the focus turns to an uncertain future for the franchise. Henry is set to hit free agency and likely won’t be back. Whether Vrabel will be is anyone’s guess.
Eric Edholm, NFL.com: 25 (-1)
The loss officially knocked them out of the postseason, but even with the upset win at Miami in Week 14, the Titans weren’t realistically making the playoffs this year. Too many things went wrong in the 3-8 start, which proved to be too big a hole from which to reemerge. Will Levis still has plenty to work on, but his steady improvement since earning the starting job has been tangible. I think he’s at least given himself the chance to compete for the starting role in 2024, if not being the favorite come August. The appeal is obvious: He’s young, cheap and talented. The Titans should be in terrific shape, salary cap-wise, to spend money this offseason and fix the problem areas, and they’re in line for a top-10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. If Derrick Henry has more 16-carry, 9-yard types of games down the stretch, he might not be part of the rebuild. This is a pretty interesting team for a variety of reasons — namely who’ll be back and who won’t — as the offseason draws closer.
Average ranking: 25
