Tyler's Take: Enjoy This Weekend Titans Fans, Things May Never Be the Same

The Tennessee Titans enter a Week 8 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons standing on the precipice of a rebuild. If they leave Sunday with a loss, there is a chance this team as we know it is unrecognizable by Wednesday.

The Tennessee Titans won't come out and say it, but actions speak louder than words and it is clear from the decision to trade Kevin Byard and what appears to be an impending start for rookie quarterback Will Levis, that they are aware of what they need to do next.

Some call it tanking. A lighter way to say it would be to "prioritize the future." We can put a dress on a pig all we want, but if the Titans lose to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday and drop to 2-5 on the season, they could take further action and strip the roster even more with veteran trades for draft picks.

A home loss to Arthur Smith coming out of a bye would be a striking blow to the Titans' playoff chances. Even if Vrabel would have to be dragged kicking and screaming, the Titans would have no choice but to look themselves in the mirror.

What would that look like? Trades. Bloody, emotionally painful trades. Likely with the team's biggest faces. That would obviously include Derrick Henry. It could also likely include DeAndre Hopkins and Denico Autry.

With the NFL's trade deadline set for October 31, imagine if we all wake up in November to a team with no Derrick Henry and no Kevin Byard. For the last seven years they have been the pillars this team was built on. Henry maybe took some time, but the sentiment holds true.

This team has also been built around a strong defensive line. Watching a shell of Harold Landry and a lonely Jeffery Simmons fail to get pressure for the last ten weeks of the year would be excruciating. Similarly, watching Will Levis or Malik Willis get battered with no help won't be pleasant either.

Yes, it is with the future in mind and may in fact be the best thing for the Titans to do. I subscribed to that thought. That would be the right thing to do, but it doesn't mean it won't hurt. It doesn't mean it won't sting to watch them elsewhere while the Titans are bare bones.

That is exactly why we must enjoy this weekend. Every time we see Henry get the ball and every pressure from the defensive line, every big run or sack should be cherished. Don't take it for granted.

This past seven years, or five years if you want to narrow down to the Vrabel tenure, has been the second-best stretch of football since the team moved to Tennessee right behind that Super Bowl group led by Steve McNair and Eddie George.

The highlights of this group's run are now long gone, the best memories of their era years past. We'll always have the 2019 playoff run, Henry's 2,000 yard season, a top seed in the AFC, but we won't always have the players that made it happen.

After the season all of Derrick Henry, A.J. Brown, Ryan Tannehill and Kevin Byard will likely be gone. The window will officially be closed. While we may not get to see all of them in action, we still have a few players left, including Henry, that we can watch potentially one last time this weekend. 

In a turn of divine intervention or pure luck, we'll get to watch them in the best throwback uniforms in the NFL. Soak it in one last time.

Related Titans stories

• WEEK 8 THURS INJURY REPORT: The Tennessee Titans once again have a lengthy injury report ahead of their game against the Atlanta Falcons, but there is some good news with Thursday's injury report as well. CLICK HERE
• TITANS TRADE RUMORS: The Tennessee Titans shipped off veteran safety Kevin Byard this week and could make more deals before next week's deadline. Here are the latest rumors on the Titans' trade front. CLICK HERE
• VRABEL GIVES BIZARRE PRESSER: The Tennessee Titans are facing a difficult situation as a team and in the face of that adversity head coach Mike Vrabel has given some bizarre answers to the media this week. CLICK HERE
• LEVIS REPORTED AS STARTER: The Tennessee Titans will be starting rookie Will Levis against the Atlanta Falcons according to a report from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. CLICK HERE