Early Bye Benefited Teams Last Season

As one of the first NFL teams to get a break this season, Mike Vrabel's team will have to play at least 12 straight weeks for the third straight year.

Geoff Burke/USA Today Sports

NASHVILLE – It is too early to tell what it means to be one of the first NFL teams to have an open date in the 17-game schedule as is the case for the Tennessee Titans and three others this week.

After all, it was only last season that the league added a week to the regular season and pushed back the first open date until Week 6.

However, the first impression is that it is a good thing.

Of the four teams that were the first to get a week off in 2021, only one had a losing record in the 12 games after they got back to work. All of them had a better winning percentage following the break than prior to it.

However, only one made the playoffs. But that team, San Francisco, made a good run once it reached the postseason.

A rundown of how things went for the four teams that had a Week 6 bye in 2021:

Atlanta

Before the break: 2-3. After the break: 5-5.

After a 1-3 start, the Falcons won their last game before the bye and their first game following it in their first season under coach Arthur Smith. They never won consecutive contests again after that, though, but they also never lost more than two in a row. All of their victories were against teams that did not make the playoffs. So, they were pretty much the same team throughout.

New Orleans

Before the break: 3-2. After the break: 6-6.

The Saints came out of the bye with wins over Seattle and Tampa Bay – their first win streak of the season. But quarterback Jameis Winston got hurt, and five straight losses followed. Coaches finally figured out what to do during the extra time afforded by a Thursday night game. New Orleans won four of its last five but missed out on a playoff spot because of a tiebreaker.

New York Jets

Before the break: 1-4. After the break: 3-9.

This was not a particularly good team from start to finish. However, the Jets averaged just 13.4 points per game and scored more than 20 just once in the first five weeks. They scored 30 or more in back-to-back weeks beginning with their second game after the bye and strung together three straight with 20 or more late in the year.

San Francisco

Before the break: 2-3. After the break: 8-4.

The 49ers lost three straight headed into their break, and their point total decreased with each defeat – from 28 points to 21 to 10. Things did not look much better when they lost 30-18 to Indianapolis in their first game back. However, they never lost consecutive contests after their bye. They did win seven of their last nine and then added a pair of playoff wins, which got them to the NFC Championship game. The season finally ended with a 20-17 loss to the eventual champions, the Los Angeles Rams.

If form holds, it will be good news for the Titans (3-2), who won three straight and took sole possession of first place in the AFC South leading into this week. The others – Houston, Detroit and Las Vegas – are all last-place teams that need to be better.

However, this is the third straight year that Tennessee has an extended run of games, and the first two produced mixed results.

Last year, the Titans started with 12 straight contests before they finally got a break in Week 13. Two losses led into the break and snapped a six-game win streak.

In 2020, a COVID outbreak forced them to take their bye in Week 4 and then play 13 straight games in the last season with a 16-game schedule. The Titans got blown out at Green Bay in Week 16 and then barely survived a serious challenge from Houston in the regular-season finale.

Tennessee won the AFC South both years but lost its playoff opener each time.

“This is when it falls,” coach Mike Vrabel said this week. “We will use the time to the best of our advantage and try to get guys back healthy, give some guys some rest that have played a lot of football for us and we will see if we can find ways to improve.

“… We always try to be conscious of what we are doing well and how we can continue to do it well. Also, who can continue to help us and who should play more, who has earned the right to play more and maybe who should play less? Those are decisions that we have to make.”