Post Game Reaction — Vikings Defeat Titans

Written By Jack Loeb

The played one heck of a game against the Minnesota Referees Sunday afternoon. The Titans were unable to overcome the early penalty deficit which they found themselves in as they gave up over 100 yards of penalties through the 4th quarter. Head Coach Brian Callahan was rightly fired up at the officials after the “unnecessary roughness” penalty against Mike Brown. It was going to be that type of game for the Titans in which they have two opponents to beat.

No, but seriously, the Titans didn’t end up playing their worst game and they ultimately still had life after NWI had.a 98 yard receiving (see below) TD from Will Levis. However, ultimately the defense was no match for Sam Darnold, Jordan Addison, and Justin Jefferson. Darnold threw for nearly 250 yards and had 2 TDs and no interception. The Minnesota run game was stifled throughout most of the game — Aaron Jones only had 39 yards on the ground. The problem was getting to the QB. Too often did Sam Darnold escape the clutches of Sweat, Key, or Jefferey Simmons to find a receiver running around as the coverage slipped. For the most part though Jarvis Brownlee Jr. and Darrell Baker Jr. did a pretty good job in the secondary today given the matchup.

As for the other side of the ball Will Levis played a decent game throwing the ball. Levis had 295 yards with 1 TD and 1 meaningless INT His kryptonite is still his incessant ability to hold the ball too long and take a sack. That happened several times on Sunday as the Titans clearly were not able to have a sustainable drive. The Titans never snapped the ball in the Vikings redzone (yikes). The RT position today was an absolute masterclass in pathetic. First, NPF gets the start, then Isaiah Prince gets put in because NPF is still NPF and does exactly what you would expect…is an even worse option and he gets 3-4 illegal formations called against him. That’s absolutely unacceptable to be an NFL level player and not just get 1 illegal formation penalty but multiple. The Titans need to figure out a decent option at RT this season or it’ll be more of the same for the remainder of the season.

As stated in my game preview Pollard would be the most important part of the offense and if the Vikings were to shut him down then the game would be incredibly difficult for the Titans to pull off a win. Thus, Pollard gained less yards than Will Levis — 15 . The Vikings are legit and they proved themselves so in their get right game against the Titans. Although the refs were the main antagonists of the game the Vikings didn’t need their help to win the game today. It just so happens that every questionable call to ever exist goes squarely against the Titans. However, that’s nothing new for a fanbase that saw a 20 yard Mariota pass (in that awful Miami game) get ruled a fumble, or how about that Josh Dobbs game against Jacksonville a few years ago that was also considered a fumble, or how about every phantom DPI or Illegal Contact penalty that has been levied against the Titans in the past 6 years? The league needs to seriously do something about their officiating at some point and in too many games it appears that their are clear favorites in the NFL.

What’s Next

The Titans will take on the AFC South reigning champion Houston Texans in Houston. The Texans will certainly be looking to build their comfortable lead over the AFCS with a win against the Titans. In addition, the Titans are now tentatively slated to draft 2nd overall after most of the Sunday games. However, the Jacksonville Jaguars are in possession of the #1 overall pick and they truly may be worse that the Titans. Although, the past two games have been played without Trevor Lawrence. Time will tell how it all shakes out but there’s definitely hope — in 2025.

Jack Loeb https://twitter.com/jakjack91
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