Winning them back
Titans’ streak has fans filling stands, cheering again
The low point for the Tennessee Titans came two years ago, when they were mired in another abysmal season. Instead of big home crowds, they’d have more than 10,000 empty seats in Nissan Stadium.
Win by win, they’re refilling the stands this year.
The Titans (5-3) have become contenders again. Tied with Jacksonville atop the AFC South, they’re also regaining their popularity by giving the home fans something to cheer.
Tennessee has won seven of its past eight home games and is back to seeing near-capacity crowds. There’s some momentum building in the Music City, and today the Titans need to make quick work of the struggling Cincinnati Bengals (3-5) to keep it going.
“We’re trying to get our fans back,” coach Mike Mularkey said. “We’ve been trying to do that for a while now. I think it’s been loud, and it’s definitely louder and louder each game that we’re playing. It’s been fun to have them back. That’s been a big emphasis these home games.”
The Titans pulled off a 23-20 home win over Baltimore last Sunday that represented a big step in several ways. Marcus Mariota threw a pair of touchdown passes, including an 11-yarder to Eric Decker with less than four minutes to go, showing their fight once again. They also have their best record at the midpoint of a season since 2010, when they also were 5-3.
A win today would give them their first four-game winning streak since 2009. The one asterisk: None of the four teams has a winning record. They’ve beaten Indianapolis (3-6), Cleveland (0-8) and Baltimore (4-5).
“Doesn’t matter to us,” Mariota said. “We’ve just got to focus on the next one and make sure we’re ready to go and try to continue to pile these wins together.”
The Titans have back-to-back three-point wins — 12-9 in overtime at Cleveland, 23-20 over the Ravens — and they’re 6-0 since the start of last season in games decided by three or fewer points. The Bengals have been blown out in their past two losses, with their offense doing next to nothing in the second half.
The Titans would appreciate a game with less drama at the end.
“Yeah, it would be nice to do that,” Mariota said.
The Bengals are down and pretty much out of it, coming off one of the worst offensive performances in franchise history. They generated only eight first downs, 29 rushing yards and 148 total yards during a 23-7 loss to the Jaguars. In the second half, they had only seven plays that gained yards. Cincinnati’s offense ranks last in the league in yards gained.
The Bengals started 3-5 in 2012 and got a wild-card berth by going 7-1 in the second half. So far, this team has shown nothing to suggest it’s capable of the same.
“We can’t afford any more losses at this point of the season,” running back Jeremy Hill said. “It’s here, it’s now.”
The offense’s main problem has been a line unable to open holes for running backs or protect Andy Dalton, who has been sacked 24 times.
The news got worse this past week as Bengals right tackle Jake Fisher went on the injury list, ending his season. Cincinnati brought back lineman Eric Winston after releasing him in the preseason.