NASHVILLE, TENN. — The Titans entered Sunday with hope that a return home for their first AFC South matchup of the year could be a springboard for the rest of the season. They left Nissan Stadium with a 26-3 loss to the previously winless Texans, further burying their chances this season and hope for the future.
The Titans had been preaching progress after three consecutive one-score losses. They delivered the worst performance of the season.
Cam Ward drove the offense down the field on the game’s opening possession, but the drive stalled out as the red zone continues to be a problem for this team and Tennessee settled for a Joey Slye field goal to take a 3-0 lead. That was as good as it got.
Tennessee’s next eight drives ended in punt, fumble interception, punt, punt, punt and a pair of turnovers on downs to end the game. The Titans failed to score in the final 55:39 as they dropped an 11th straight divisional game.
Tyjae Spears fumbled on his first carry. Cam Ward threw an interception for a third straight week when he was hit by Danielle Hunter as he attempted to make a second quarter pass. The Texans took over in Tennessee territory after both turnovers and converted the takeaways into Ka’imi Fairbairn field goals.
Fairbairn hit four field goals in all, including a 53-yarder just before halftime, as Houston built a 12-3 lead. Opponents have now outscored the Titans 49-3 in the second quarter this season after the Texans scored all nine points in the second stanza Sunday.
That nine-point halftime lead was more than enough for the Texans defense which had DeMeco Ryan back calling the plays and had Hunter and Will Anderson free to rush the passer with abandon against a Tennessee team looking to play catch up. Anderson got three sacks and Hunter got another one as Ward struggled, throwing for just 170 yards on 23-36 passing.
A week after an encouraging performance against the Ravens, Ward did not see open receivers and struggled to play on time early against Houston. He spent the fourth quarter running for his life behind an offensive line that had its worst day of the year.
The defense held its own in the first half, preventing the deficit from being even worse, but eventually wore down. C.J. Stroud directed a 17-play, 74-yard touchdown drive that ate up the first 8:23 of the third quarter capped by his own two-yard touchdown run. He also threw a fourth quarter touchdown pass to Jaylin Noel to cap a 26-of-34 day in which he passed for 261 yards.
Stroud is the latest quarterback dice up Robert Saleh’s defense, finding as much open space in a makeshift secondary as there were open seats in a stadium that announced a crowd of just over 52,000.
Those fans last saw a home divisional win on January 7th, 2024, against the Jaguars in the final game for Mike Vrabel and Derrick Henry. Tennessee is 6-33 since then, on pace for one of the worst three-year spans in modern NFL history, barring a dramatic turnaround this season.
Yet there does not seem to be much urgency to try to find a spark.
“The bright thing about it is the sun will come up tomorrow,” said Ward, who dropped to 3-19 as a NFL quarterback. “We get another chance to play a really good team next week, try to get our first win.”
Asked about the possibility of benching Ward as the team searches for solutions, Saleh said that won’t happen.
“Cam is our starting quarterback,” Saleh said. “We’re going to give him every opportunity to be successful this year. We’re going to continue working with him, grinding with him, and trying to help him get better.”
Saleh and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll have bet their jobs on Ward being successful, but the second-year quarterback has shown little through five games that indicates he is the long-term solution for them or the franchise.
While the play on the field is perhaps at an all-time low, the unrest within the fanbase is at an all-time high. They are asking simple questions with no clear answers.
Where on the schedule can this team find a win to avoid the possibility of the first 0-17 season in NFL history? And, besides that, what should provide hope for the future?
The new Nissan Stadium is nearing completion, but the Titans may once again need to be torn down to the studs. The players aren’t good enough, the schemes aren’t working and the losses keep piling up with no end in sight.
