Tennessee Titans Must Break Tendencies to Defeat Cincinnati Bengals

The Tennessee Titans have a tough task ahead of them in Week 4 in the Cincinnati Bengals and if they hope to finally beat Joe Burrow and crew, they will need to break their own tendencies and play a different kind of football.

The Tennessee Titans saw an aggressive defensive front from the Cleveland Browns in Week 3. They are in for more of the same in Week 4 as the Cincinnati Bengals have used a similar attacking style when they have faced the Titans in recent years.

Because of that, the Titans cannot afford to come out with their typical game plan. They can't expect to run multiple tight ends on the field and hammer Derrick Henry into the line of scrimmage as defensive ends, linebackers and defensive backs meet Henry in the backfield.

The Bengals have a perfect plan to stop the Titans that has led to only 52 total points being scored by the Titans' offense in the previous three matchups between these teams. Doing the same thing perpetually and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.

The Titans must break their tendencies, do something the Bengals won't expect.

For that, the Titans need to play this game spread out with three wide receivers on the field and a healthy dose of rookie running back Tyjae Spears. Replace the inside, heavy runs with traps and quick draws out of shotgun.

Spread out the Bengals defense and don't allow their second-level defenders to penetrate consistently. Force them to back off with your alignment and personnel grouping. 

For the last few seasons, the Titans focused on getting teams to load the box so they could create explosive plays in the passing game, but that approach is simply not working anymore. Teams know how to deal with it too well. 

The Titans again, must break those tendencies and try to unload the box. Make the Bengals back off with the threat of the pass, then run it. A twist on the Titans' philosophy for the past five years.

Simply put, if the Titans try to "play their game" against the Bengals, they will play into their hand. Spread it out, play out of shotgun and render the Bengals' original plan useless. 

It might create just enough time while the Bengals adjust to put some points on the board. If the Titans get a decent lead early and can allow their pass rush to tee off on an immobile Joe Burrow, they might just have a shot.

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