A Date With Playoff Destiny Awaits
NASHVILLE – There is no uncertainty.
There is only one thing the Tennessee Titans can – and must – do to make the NFL playoffs for the fourth straight season. They have to win at Jacksonville in the regular-season finale.
Saturday’s 19-14 loss to the Houston Texans dropped the Titans into a tie with the Jaguars atop the AFC South and rendered their respective Week 17 matchups meaningless. Regardless of what Tennessee does Thursday night at home against Dallas or what Jacksonville does at Houston on Jan. 1, the winner of the Titans-Jaguars game on Jan. 8 will finish in first place and – almost certainly – be the only team from the division to advance to the postseason.
Tennessee and Jacksonville are both 7-8. Even if one grabs a one-game lead next week, the winner of their head-to-head showdown will finish on top because: 1) that team will be the only one with nine wins or 2) it will claim a tiebreaker with both clubs at 8-9. A Titans win over the Jaguars would mean a split of the season series, but Tennessee would have the better division record. A Jacksonville win would mean a sweep of the season series, which is the first tiebreaker.
"You can only take it week-by-week," safety Kevin Byard said. "But that's what we’re going to have to do. There’s really no other way, no other option. We’re going to have to wipe this thing clean and focus on next week."
Not exactly.
The focus now is squarely two weeks out, and the Titans and Jaguars will arrive at their date with destiny from completely different directions.
Tennessee has lost five straight, its longest slide since 2015. Only the Chicago Bears (3-12), with eight consecutive defeats, have a longer current losing streak. The Texans (2-12-1), the only team with fewer wins than the Bears, had dropped nine in a row before they rallied from a four-point fourth-quarter deficit against the Titans.
Jacksonville has won three straight and five of its last seven.
“I feel really bad right now,” rookie cornerback Roger McCreary said. “Just on tape, we all know it’s there right now. We’ve just got to go on to the next game, and try to get us a W, I would say.”
This is now the third time in five seasons under coach Mike Vrabel that the Titans’ fate will be decided at the end of the season – and against a division rival. In 2018, Tennessee lost a winner-take-all contest for first place in the division and the final AFC playoff spot to the Indianapolis Colts. In 2019, the defeated Texans and claimed the final AFC wild card.
The reality of the current situation likely will impact roster decisions for the next game. Vrabel held out several prominent players in the next-to-last game of 2019, which had no bearing on the team's playoff status. The Titans lost 38-28 to the New Orleans Saints but came back the next week and topped Houston 35-14 to get into the playoffs. From there, they went on the road and won games at New England and Baltimore before an AFC Championship defeat at Kansas City.
The difference this time is that injuries might dictate exactly who is available and who is not. Four of Tennessee’s inactives against Houston were ruled out because of injury two days before the contest. Additionally, there are 19 players on injured reserve and a number of others nursing a variety of ailments.
“We have some guys that have played a lot of football for us that are far less than 100 percent,” Vrabel said. “It is those guys that I appreciate. No matter what, they find a way to be here for this team. We will try to figure out who we have, who is available, then make some decisions.”
The good news for Tennessee is that it will have plenty of time to prepare for Jacksonville.
Because they play the Thursday night game in Week 17, they will have 10 days to rest, recover and rep their schemes before they play for their playoff lives.
“Come back with a sense of urgency and a greater sense of focus,” tight end Chig Okonkwo said. “And a greater sense of preparation, so that when we come out, we’re on our stuff.
“And we just need to find a way to win a game.”
Only one game. And it is not the next one.
