NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans are about to find out if an ugly loss can help them play better.
Not only were the Titans just held to their franchise’s fewest total yards in a game in 49 years, they have also dropped nine of their past 10 games dating to last season.
Making it worse? Three pass plays accounted for 76 of the team’s 94 total yards in last weekend’s 27-3 road loss to the Cleveland Browns.
Tennessee is back home at Nissan Stadium this Sunday to face the Cincinnati Bengals. Like the Titans, they’re off to a 1-2 start, but the Bengals have won four of the past five games against Tennessee, a former division rival in the old AFC Central.
The most painful loss in that stretch came in January 2022, when the Titans — fresh off a second straight South Division title — blew the AFC’s No. 1 seed, losing in the divisional round as Cincinnati made a run to the Super Bowl.
Titans running back Derrick Henry remains confident he and his teammates have plenty of time to get back on track.
“We definitely don’t want to go out there and lose. But sometimes adversity strikes earlier than other times,” said the three-time Pro Bowl selection, adding that the Titans are “just staying focused on what we want to do, how are we going to play as a team, and take it week by week to try to go out there and get a win.”
The Titans have shown once already this season that they can bounce back, responding to a 16-15 road loss to the New Orleans Saints in the opener with a 27-24 overtime win against the Los Angeles Chargers two weeks ago in Nashville.
The Bengals eased their desperation for a first win of the season by beating the Los Angeles Rams 19-16 on Monday night. Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow, dealing with a sore calf, went from possibly not playing at all — his status was a game-time decision — to throwing for a season-high 259 yards. He’s doing his best to avoid any more setbacks and was a full participant in practice Friday, according to the NFL’s injury report.
“Right now I’m feeling my way through it,” Burrow said earlier in the week.
Protecting him has been key for the Bengals. He has been sacked only five times through three games, and defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons said the Titans know they have to get their hands up because of how quickly Burrow gets the ball out.
The Titans also know Burrow isn’t moving around a lot right now, but Simmons — a two-time Pro Bowler who had three of Tennessee’s nine sacks in that playoff loss to the Bengals — emphasized taking the quarterback down isn’t the only way to disrupt his effectiveness.
“If we could get our hands up and have 10 batted balls with zero sacks and get a win,” Simmons said, “that’s affecting the quarterback.”
Meanwhile, defense gave gave the Bengals a chance to win Monday night. Defensive end Trey Hendrickson had two of their six sacks of L.A. quarterback Matthew Stafford, and linebacker Logan Wilson picked off two passes as they held the Rams to just 1-for-11 on third-down conversions.
“They were relentless,” Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor said. “They put a lot of pressure on him, good against the run as well, just never allowed them to get into a great rhythm. I think that was critical.”
The Bengals, going for their third win in a row against the Titans, will likely have more opportunities Sunday. Ryan Tannehill has been sacked 13 times, including five in each of the past two games.
Tennessee’s offense has had very little go right lately, and even two-time NFL rushing champion Henry — including a 2,000-yard 2020 season — has been less effective while having fewer opportunities. With the Titans running only 45 offensive plays at Cleveland, Henry spent more time on the bench than on the field, and the man with more rushing yards than any other NFL running back since December 2018 was held to 20 on 11 carries.
He should have a chance to run against Cincinnati, which has allowed an average of 151.7 rushing yards a game, tied for 30th in the NFL. Henry said he’s always motivated for the next game, but he called the matchup with the Browns “rough.”
“The last week can add a little bit more fuel, definitely,” he said.
In the meantime, veteran kicker Nick Folk, acquired by Tennessee from New England in a trade at the final roster cutdown deadline before the season, has made the most of his opportunities.
He has converted all eight of his field-goal attempts and all three of his extra-point tries since joining the Titans. Counting the eight field-goal attempts he made at the end of last season with New England, his streak stands at 16, the longest active run in the NFL. It’s the fifth time in his career he has made at least 16 consecutive field goals.
And the Titans and their fans can also be encouraged by a flip of the calendar page Sunday. October has been a very good month for them in recent years, with Tennessee having having won eight straight games in the year’s 10th month starting with a division victory against the host Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 10, 2021.
The Titans are 10-2 in October over the past three seasons, with one of those wins in overtime on the road. That’s ahead of the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills, who are tied for second at 9-3 in that span.