2020 Schedule Offers Opportunities for Two Do-Overs

Titans will get another crack at Buffalo and Denver, two teams that whipped them this season

Thomas Shea/USA Today Sports

Two teams that did not see the Tennessee Titans at their best are the two opponents the Tennessee Titans will face next season that the rest of the AFC South will not.

It can be argued that the Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos did as much to help the Titans finish second in the AFC South as anyone else.

With the 2019 regular season now complete, there is clarity about what is to come in 2020. For Tennessee that includes matchups with the second-place teams from the AFC East (Buffalo) and AFC West (Denver) under the weighted portion of the NFL’s scheduling format.

The Bills and Broncos faced the Titans in back-to-back weeks during October, before Ryan Tannehill replaced Marcus Mariota at quarterback and the team secured a playoff berth with seven victories in the final 10 contests.

In fact, it was a during a shutout loss at Denver that coaches first turned to Tannehill, who started for the first time a week later against the L.A. Chargers. A week before the game with the Broncos, the Bills held Tennessee to seven points and 252 total yards.

“I’m proud of the players,” coach Mike Vrabel said Sunday of his team’s season-ending run, capped by a 35-14 victory at Houston. “… I appreciate them putting up with me every day and allowing me to coach them, coach them hard. We try to put the team first in everything we do.”

The last thing on the minds of Titans players and coaches is next season’s schedule. With Sunday’s victory, they clinched a playoff berth and a trip to New England for the wild card round.

However, the roster of opponents is now guaranteed.

In addition to the six games against their AFC South rivals, the Titans will play every team from the AFC North and from the NFC North. Plus, of course, they will host Buffalo and travel to Denver – just as they did this season.

Tennessee’s 2020 home games: Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit and Buffalo.

Tennessee’s 2020 road games: Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Green Bay, Minnesota and Denver.

The complete schedule, with dates and times for each contest, will be released in April.