Countdown to Kickoff: 39 Days

The Titans prepped for Super Bowl XXXIV with 39 forced fumbles during the 1999 regular season.

The countdown to kickoff continues.

The Tennessee Titans will open the 2020 regular season Sept. 14 at Denver. That is 39 days away. So, today we look at one way the number 39 figures into the team’s recent history.

Sometimes a game can be decided by the unpredictable bounce of a football.

Never in the past 21 years did the ball bounce more often, or more favorably for the Tennessee Titans than it did in 1999, when they made the only Super Bowl appearance in franchise history.

Tennessee led the NFL that season with 39 forced fumbles, tied for the most in any season of the Titans era (1999-present). Opponents lost the handle at least once in 14 of the 16 regular-season contests and more than once in 11 of 16.

The Titans recovered at least one fumble in 12 games and as many as four in a single contest (a 24-14 victory at Cincinnati) en route to a 13-3 record, tied for the NFL’s best. Seven of those victories came in games decided by seven points or fewer, five by three points or fewer.

Their 24 total fumble recoveries also led the league and represent the high-water mark for the past 21 seasons.

The Titans forced 39 fumbles again in 2000, another season in which they finished 13-3 (they only recovered 13 that season). Since then, the most in a season was 28 in 2008, the only other time they finished 13-3.

Things were not much different during the 1999 postseason. Tennessee forced at least one fumble in all four playoff games, two or more in three of the four and recovered five.

The bounces finally stopped going the Titans’ way in Super Bowl XXXIV, when they forced two fumbles but did not recover any. Of course, they lost 23-16 to the St. Louis Rams.