Are we witnessing the closing of the current Tennessee Titans’ window of opportunity?
It certainly feels that way given the tumultuous week of two embarrassing losses in eight days sandwiched around general manager Jon Robinson’s abrupt dismissal by owner Amy Adams Strunk.
Yes, at 7-6, the Titans are still chasing a playoff spot, even though they are free-falling into it with three consecutive losses. They are currently struggling so much that not even a Christmas Eve date with the lowly Texans looks like a sure thing.
There are those who say that due to all the injuries, the trade of A.J. Brown and draft picks that didn’t work out that the Titans have lost their identity of a tough team that runs the football no matter what and wins the fight in the trenches on both sides of the football.
But, did the Titans lose their identity or did their identity has lose them?
For the better part of Mike Vrabel’s tenure, and even before that when Mike Mularkey was head coach, the Titans have flown in the face of today’s NFL trends. Whether it has been Vrabel’s tough-guy mentality or Mularkey’s “exotic smashmouth,” the Titans’ identity jibed more with the mindset of the 1980s New York Giants than today’s pass-happy NFL.
While that approach won the G-Men a couple of Super Bowls under Bill Parcells back in the day, how many Super Bowls has it really won in recent times?
Yes, Derrick Henry is a special running back. Mike Vrabel has made that clear many times. The offense runs through Henry today just as it has for the past four years.
But here is the hurtful truth: That style seems to be able to get you only so far in today’s pro football, and the Titans may be Exhibit A.
When the Titans made their deepest playoff push of the Vrabel era in 2019, it was equal parts Ryan Tannehill’s career resurgence (2,742 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 117.5 QB rating, the best of his career), rookie A.J. Brown’s emergence as a No. 1 receiver (1,051 yards, eight touchdowns) and Henry running roughshod (1,540 yards, 5.1 per carry, 16 touchdowns).
All three elements were needed.
And as much as the offense flowed through Henry and the run game, what Tannehill and Brown brought made the offense among the most dangerous in the NFL.
The same was true in 2020 when the Titans put one of the league’s most potent attacks on the field with receivers Brown and Corey Davis having career years and Henry’s rushing for 2,027 yards. Any semblance of a defense that year might have produced the Super Bowl that has eluded the franchise since 2000.
Last year, even with Henry going down halfway through the season, the Titans were still able to withstand it because of the threat in the passing game, something that is no longer there with the lack of game-changers on the outside and an offensive line that cannot pass protect and is only average at run-blocking.
But now as we see the Titans sputtering at the most critical time of the regular season, it is not Henry who is flawed. It’s the offense.
The most telltale sign of that is that the Titans have not scored more than 27 points in a game all year. When Jacksonville reached 33 points after two possessions in the third quarter, it was essentially game over for the Titans.
Henry is a unicorn who defies conventional wisdom on a regular basis with explosive plays. But you saw it Sunday. When the Titans were down three scores early in the second half, the game plan, and subsequently their most explosive player, were rendered useless for the final 25 minutes of the game.
It was proof that running back-centric offenses do not win big in the NFL in 2022.
Need further proof? Henry, Josh Jacobs (Raiders), Nick Chubb (Browns) and Saquan Barkley (Giants) are the top four rushers in the league this season. Their teams are a combined 24-27-1. Hardly the stuff of Super Bowl contenders.
The Titans will go into the offseason looking for a new general manager. They also should be looking for a new identity.
Terry McCormick covers the Titans for TitanInsider.com, a part of Main Street Media.