Winless Titans remain confident of turning the season around despite 0-3 start

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The winless Tennessee Titans remain confident they have a team that can win the Super Bowl.

On paper.

The Titans are 0-3 in a league in which only six teams with an 0-3 start have made the playoffs since 1979 and only one since 2000. None have won the Super Bowl.

New coach Brian Callahan is trying to turn around a franchise that has lost 21 of its last 27 games following a 30-14 loss to Green Bay and a quarterback the Titans traded in late August.

The Titans haven't struggled this much since they went 5-27 in November 2015, costing Ken Whisenhunt his job. This is also their worst start to a season since they lost their first six games in 2009 before recovering to an 8-8 record. Most notably, Chris Johnson became the sixth man in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season.

Callahan said every NFL team goes through a difficult period every season and it is still early.

“We haven't played anywhere near what we can, and I think our guys know that,” Callahan said Monday. “My job is to make sure we keep playing forward, and we still feel like we have football games to play. I mean, we've got a whole lot of work to do. There's a lot of football to play, and we've got to find a way to play better.”

That's why the Titans insist their confidence remains high. Wide receiver Tyler Boyd, who worked with Callahan in Cincinnati, said the Titans need more consistency after showing off their strengths in every game. He noted that Houston is atop the AFC South at 2-1.

“It’s still winnable,” Boyd said of the division.

What works

The defense allows only 139.3 passing yards per game and is still one of the best teams in terms of yards allowed.

Nevertheless, the Titans, with seven new starters under new coordinator Dennard Wilson, are still waiting for their first success this season.

What needs help

The offense. Callahan is not only a new head coach, this is also his first season as an offensive playmaker. The Titans have yet to score more than 17 points in a game this season and still look to score again in the fourth quarter.

They have allowed 15 sacks, one more than Cleveland. The Titans are last in the league with a turnover differential of minus-7, with Will Levis having eight turnovers. His five interceptions to start this season are one more than in his nine starts as a rookie, and two of those were returned for touchdowns.

Stock up

DeAndre Hopkins. The five-time Pro Bowl receiver caught six of the seven passes thrown his way for a team-high 73 yards and his first touchdown of the season. And what didn't he catch? Levis stared him down and Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander jumped the ball for a pick-6. Hopkins looked like himself for the first time since injuring his left knee on July 31.

Inventory is decreasing

Right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere. The 2022 third-round pick out of Ohio State was given every opportunity to start. He was taken out of the game after Kingsley Enagbare made the sixth-fastest sack in the NFL to date, racing past Petit-Frere in just 2.66 seconds and reaching Levis for the sack and strip. The Titans replaced Petit-Frere for the final 19 snaps with Jaelyn Duncan, a sixth-round draft pick out of Maryland in 2023.

Callahan said after the game they would see what Duncan could do in the future. On Monday, he said they would “play out” those tackles after Petit-Frere made three “really bad plays.”

Injuries

Cornerback Chidobe Awuzie left the field early with a groin injury. He will be out of action for several weeks and will likely end up on the injured list. Two-time Pro Bowl DL Jeffery Simmons has an elbow injury.

Key number

38 – This is the number of consecutive games the Titans have not scored at least 30 points. They last reached this number on January 2, 2022 in a 3-4 home win over Miami.

Next Steps

Find out how to better protect Levis and score more points. Beat the Dolphins (1-2) in prime time on Sept. 30 in Miami for the second straight time when the Titans used a backup quarterback because of injury.

Then they use the early off period to fix more problems. They host Indianapolis for their first division game on October 13th and then play five of seven away games.

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