The Tennessee Titans fell further into the cellar of the AFC South following their fifth loss in six games in a blowout defeat at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 11.
With the loss, the Titans are now a full three games behind the Indianapolis Colts (5-5) for third place in the division when you factor in their loss to the Colts earlier this year.
Tennessee remains winless away from Nissan Stadium in 2023 (0-7) and the Titans sport a 3-14 since their last road win, which is now over a full calendar year ago.
I’m not sure even the most pessimistic Titans fan could’ve envisioned how far this team has fallen in that span. As a result, Tennessee has a slew of question marks going into the offseason, with the only certainty being there must be major changes made in 2024.
Now, the biggest takeaways from the Titans’ latest embarrassing showing in Week 11.
It's hard to evaluate Will Levis
We saw both good and bad from Levis in Week 11, but it remains hard to fully evaluate his play when he’s constantly under pressure due to awful protection upfront.
Anyone who thinks they have a full handle on what Levis will be is kidding themselves. What we can say is that Levis has looked competent despite the mess around him, which is about all you can ask for right now.
More concerns for the offensive line
As if poor run-blocking and pass protection weren’t enough to worry about, the Titans have two more concerns for the group upfront going into Week 12.
Aaron Brewer continues to have issues snapping the football, something that has been prevalent for weeks now. He had a pair of bad snaps, one of which resulted in a lost fumble and eventually points for Jacksonville.
There’s also an injury concern, as Chris Hubbard exited early and is now in danger of missing another game. If he sits, the Titans could roll with rookie Jaelyn Duncan, but it’s also possible they go back to veteran Andre Dillard if he’s healthy enough to play.
Kristian Fulton back to being a liability
Just when we thought Fulton was turning a corner after playing well the last few weeks, he went and had a bad game against the Jaguars.
Fulton got beat deep by Calvin Ridley on one play, and his decision to pull out of coverage and go after Trevor Lawrence led to another big one for Jacksonville.
The LSU product has been a disaster this season. I think it’s safe to say he won’t be back in Nashville in 2024.
The pass-rush hit rock bottom
With the pass-rush non-existent, Lawrence was able to have a picnic in the pocket all game long, which predictably resulted in the secondary getting roasted.
The Titans tallied just one sack, which came from safety Terrell Edmunds on a play in which he ran the Jaguars quarterback out of bounds. Harold Landry was the only other Titan to record a quarterback hit.
This is what rock bottom looks like for the once-vaunted Titans pass-rush.
Titans can't get out of their own way
Tennessee is routinely shooting itself in the foot, which only exacerbates things for a bad team that lacks sufficient talent.
The Titans had a pair of turnovers — one on offense and one on special teams — and multiple bad penalties, three of which moved the chains on third downs on three separate Jags scoring drives (Roger McCreary’s two pass interferences and Landry’s offsides).
The Titans aren’t just a bad in the talent department, they lack discipline, also.
This team is worse than anyone could've imagined
Going into the season, we expected the Titans to be an average team, at worst. But after 10 games, the Titans are actually one of the worst in the league.
The Titans sport the second-worst record in the conference and the sixth-worst record in the entire NFL. The good news is, that also means Tennessee has the No. 6 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, which could put them in range to draft one of the top left tackles in next year’s class.
Roster construction is no doubt the biggest issue for the 2023 team, but the coaching staff certainly isn’t blameless, as head coach Mike Vrabel and Co. simply haven’t done enough to help the situation.
Many are calling for Vrabel to be fired, but I just don’t see that happening and instead he’ll get the benefit of the doubt that he can do better once the Titans have the money to bring better players in, which will be the case in 2024.
However, there’s no question Vrabel’s seat is, at the very least, the warmest it has ever been since his arrival in Nashville.
