Titans Post Game Reaction - What Was That?

Written By Jack Loeb

The first regular season game was an absolute embarrassment. The Titans lost in the worst possible way. After being up 17-0 late in the second quarter the Titans, specifically two players, Will Levis and Jack Gibbens handed the game to the Bears. Jack Gibbens was first up to fumble the game away in the third quarter with his pitiful lack of effort on punt team. Gibbens allowed Ryan Stonehouse — to once again — have his punt blocked similarly to how Stonehouse tore his ACL last season. The Bears returned the blocked punt for a TD — 17-10. Soon thereafter the Bears kick a FG to cut the lead — 17-13. Then later in the third quarter Levis rolls out to his right in anticipation to throw and gets strip sacked by Darrell Taylor which led to a Bears FG on a short field — 17-16. Then, on the very next drive, Levis faces an immense amount pressure and makes the worst mistake possible…in an effort to make either an incomplete pass out of bounds or to give his receiver a chance he flicks it to the intended receiver and it gets picked off and returned for a TD— 17-22. Not to be outdone by ineptitude from the offense the Bears decide to go for two against the Titans defense who has no choice but to leave the motion man uncovered as he scores an easy TD. The very next drive the Titans go 3 and out after only gaining 5 yards with less than 6 min to play. The Bears then have a decent drive that brings the clock down to close to the 2 min warning. Last chance for Will Levis on this drive to tie it up. Levis hits Ridley for 22 yards before he’s pushed out of bounds. Later on the drive Levis throws incomplete for Ridley on the right sideline as the two are once again not on the same page. Based on Levis’s reaction he was expecting Ridley to peel off for a back shoulder pass. 3rd and long…Levis checks the play and throws a short pass to Chig Okonkwo that went nowhere after Ridley failed to block his man — Not that it was going to work out anyways. However, that play became quite consequential due to the now 4th and 10. Levis faces pressure once again and throws a prayer in the direction of Tyler Boyd. Ball gets intercepted — game over.

That was easily one of the worst loses I’ve seen from the Titans since they got blown out on opening day to the Browns. The Titans defense for the most part did what was necessary. They held Caleb Williams to less than 50% completion percentage. They held Caleb Williams to less than 100 passing yards, They held D’Andre Swift to less than 35 yards rushing. They found ways to get pressure on Williams and get a few sacks — and yet, despite all of that, they still lost in the most asinine way imaginable. It was one mistake after another for the Titans. Brian Callahan clearly shares some of the blame as well. His offense stalled so often you would think it was a teenage driver attempting to drive manual.

After all the warranted hype this fan base had for the Titans this offseason it’s incredible to see how absolutely awful the Titans appeared on Sunday. They clearly stole defeat from the jaws of victory.

There is some good news though — Tony Pollard looks to be pretty solid and he clearly was considered the starter today. He had a total 82 rushing yards for 1 TD with a 5.1 yard average. Pollard and almost the entire defense deserve the MVP award from today. Outside of that it was a dumpster fire.

JC Latham struggled mightily to block against quick pass rushers. This was something I was afraid of during the pre-draft process as I preferred Joe Alt to Latham. The former Alabama RT looked too slow too often to play LT. This could be a five alarm fire bell if this trend keeps up. The Titans were needing Latham to step up in a big way this season. However, this is still game one. But it’s not going to be easier for Latham as he’ll face much better pass rushers than (checks notes)…Demarcus Walker. Peter Skoronski also was victimized by the Bears front seven too often as pressure consistently found its way to Levis. As for the RT, more of the same NPF is showing himself after 3 years that he’s probably not the future Titans RT. Similarly to Latham he looked too slow and not powerful enough to play RT.

Now, for the elephant in the room. Will Levis did not play like a starting quality NFL QB today. He was yet again scratching and clawing his way to 60% completion percentage (He was 59%). He showed a consistent nature to throw off awkward platforms unnecessarily or throw with bad mechanics falling away from his pass. It was clearly bad, awful, grotesque. That style of football cannot win in the NFL. Clearly Levis is still not on page with his number one WR Calvin Ridley and rarely did he find others to get the ball to not wearing a “C” on their helmet to get the ball to. In a 60 min game he threw for less than 130 yards and had 1 TD and 2 picks. Those are ‘09 Vince Young-esque numbers. Will Levis must turn it around and do so soon or he very well could find himself as a journeyman backup. I’ve been a big proponent of Levis since he’s been drafted and certainly after that Atlanta game. I want that Will Levis not the Will Levis that fans so consistently see inconsistent week after week.


What’s Next

Yes, it’s only week one and the Titans notoriously don’t play well week one. The road ahead won’t be any easier. The Titans will take on the NYJ in Nashville next week. That will be an incredibly difficult feat for this Titans team considering they just played the Bears who don’t have near the talent that the Jets do. If the Titans end up going 0-2 after this offseason built on hope Titans fans will undoubtedly lose hope in the team and that could lead to a very toxic environment for 1st year HC Brian Callahan and 2nd year QB Will Levis.

Jack Loeb https://twitter.com/jakjack91
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