Bengals visit as Titans look to shake ugly loss
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 threetime 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 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.”