Same Old Titans Stagger At Finish Line, Lose Late to Seahawks, 20-17

Once again, the Tennessee Titans made all sorts of late mistakes and lost 20-17 in the closing minutes to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. It's the seventh one-score defeat, and their third straight home loss where they've blown a late lead. The Titans are now 5-10 on the year.

NASHVILLE — If you needed a quick snapshot of all that's wrong with the Tennessee Titans this season, they were kind enough to give it to you during the final three minutes of their game against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday at Nissan Stadium.

The Titans lost 20-17 to fall to 5-10 on the season, and they gifted the win to Seattle thanks to a sleigh-full of mistakes on the Seahawks’ go-ahead touchdown drive, and then failed to muster a threat on their own last-minute effort because of a bag full of poor plays offensively as well.

It was a downright brutal finish in a game they could have won. But we've said that quite often this season, haven't we? This is, after all, a Tennessee team that lost their last two home games in overtime where they had missed a simple extra point kick in regulation of both games.

The Titans, they simply can't get out of their own way.

"It's always frustrating when you lose,'' Titans coah Mike Vrabel said. "It comes down to a handful of plays just like we saw today, whether it's us making one, us not making one, them making one, a penalty here or there. 

"That's what it comes down to, and we've seen that. There'll be a lot of good plays in there, and unfortunately, there's just some plays there that ended up getting (you) beat in a close game.''

The Titans were eliminated from the playoffs after last week's overtime loss to Houston, but you wouldn't have known based on the effort. This was the first game in Mike Vrabel's six-year coaching career that was meaningless in the playoff race. But they played hard and did a lot of good things, taking a 17-13 lead with 3:21 on a Derrick Henry touchdown run.

But they couldn't close it out, a tough pill to swallow on Christmas Eve. Vrabel said it was a tough locker room talk.

"I was just being appreciative of the people that they're going to go home to and talk to here in the next day or two, because they're really the ones that have supported us and allow us to do what we do and — win or lose — support us,'' Vrabel said. "I think that's important. As difficult as it may be after losing a football game, what is most important is trying to appreciate the people that have helped us get here and have supported us.''

Veteran quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who started the first six games of the season before injuring an ankle and losing his starting job to rookie Will Levis, was back on the field Sunday. Levis, who injured his own ankle late in last Sunday's game, was unable to play against Seattle.

During the first six games under Tannehill, the Titans averaged only 17. 1 points per game and he had just two touchdown passes while going 2-4. The struggles continued on Sunday. 

After punting on their first two possessions, the Titans took an early 7-0 lead with a trick play. They capped off a six-play, 57-yard drive when Tannehill handed off to running back Derrick Henry, who then stopped before the line of scrimmage and flipped a 12-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Chig Okonkwo just a few plays into the second quarter.

Derrick Henry has FOUR touchdown passes in NINE career attempts 👑

via @NFL | #Titans pic.twitter.com/PzCv3nvs12

— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) December 24, 2023

The injury-depleted Tennessee defense continued to come up with one play after another to keep Seattle out of the end zone. The Titans, who have the No. 1-ranked red zone defense in the NFL, forced red zone field goals, the second coming on Seattle's first drive in the third quarter, cutting the Tennessee lead to 10-6.

Neither defense could get off the field in the second half. Each team had only three possessions, and every drive but the last was at least nine plays or more. 

The Seahawks took a 13-10 lead with 12:10 to go in the fourth quarter when DK Metcalf capped a 10-play, 96-yard drive with an 11-yard scoring catch from Geno Smith.

But the Titans answered with an impressive drive of their own, going 75 yards in 15 plays and taking almost nine minutes off the clock. They converted a fourth down on a 2-yard run from Tyjae Spears at the 27-yard line, and got a break on third-and-11 when DeAndre Hopkins drew a pass interference penalty. With first-and-10 from the 11, Henry ran three straight times, scoring from 2 yards out with 3:21 to go to take a 17-13 lead.

Seattle answered though, getting plenty of help from the Tennessee defense. Cornerback Tre Avery started for Sean Murphy-Bunting, who was out with hip injury, and he was called for two pass interference penalties on the final drive. One came on third-and-14 to keep the drive alive, and the second came on second-and-long and gave Seattle the back at the 5.

Seattle ran the ball twice with no success, but then Smith found tight end Cody Parkinson for a 5-yard score, beating Avery to the ball. Seattle had a 20-17 lead with just 57 seconds to go.

The Titans had one last chance, but Tannehill was sacked twice on the final drive — something that a veteran quarterback can never let happen — and the game ended when he threw to rookie Colton Dowell with no timeouts left, and he couldn't get out of bounds as time expired.

The win raised Seattle's record to 8-7, and kept their playoff hopes alive. The Titans play out the string with two division games, one at Houston next Sunday and the season finale on Jan. 7 against Jacksonville at Nissan Stadium.

That could very well be the final home game for both Tannehill and Henry, who are in the final year of their respective contracts.

Tannehill was 18-for-26 passing for 152 yards, and he was sacked six times as the Tennessee offensive line continues to struggle. He had Tennessee's longest play on the day, a 23-yard run.

Henry had a good day. Aside from the touchdown pass, he had 88 yards rushing on 19 carries and also had an 11-yard screen pass.  Still, it was another loss as the clock ticks down on what might be the end of his Titans' career.

"If you care, it won't be easy to shake it, and that's all I can say about that,'' Henry said. ''It's not good enough. I'm frustrated, but we've got two games left and we'll try our best to win those.'' 

Related Titans-Seahawks stories

• WATCH DK METCALF TD CATCH: The Tennessee Titans gave up the lead for the first time of the game in the fourth quarter when they allowed a go-ahead touchdown pass to Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf. CLICK HERE
• WATCH ARDEN KEY SACK: The Tennessee Titans came out and got a big play from their defense early against the Seattle Seahawks as edge rusher Arden Key sacked Geno Smith for a big loss. CLICK HERE
• WATCH DERRICK HENRY TD PASS: The Tennessee Titans took an early lead over the Seattle Seahawks as Derrick Henry threw his fourth career touchdown pass. This time, to Chig Okonkwo to give the Titans a 7-0 advantage. CLICK HERE
• WATCH HENRY RUSHING TD: The Tennessee Titans took the lead late in the fourth quarter as Derrick Henry's touchdown run capped off an excellence response from the Titans' offense. CLICK HERE
• WEEK 16 POINT SPREAD: The Tennessee Titans are banged up, and will turn to veteran Ryan Tannehill at quarterback on Sunday against the Seahawks at Nissan Stadium. With all the injuries, the Seahawks are favored to win. CLICK HERE