Titans no longer find ways to win the close ones

It wasn’t so long ago that the Titans owned these kinds of games.

The kinds of games that were decided in the fourth quarter.

The kinds of games that were close.

The kinds of games where a few players needed to make critical plays at critical times.

That’s no longer the case for the Titans, as they illustrated once again in Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks at Nissan Stadium.

The Titans took a 10-6 lead into the fourth quarter, took a 17-13 lead with 3:21 left and — even after the Seahawks went ahead 20-17 with 57 seconds left — had one more chance to send the game into overtime with a productive final drive.

Instead, the Titans (5-10) failed at each and every opportunity, losing for the third time in four games as their miserable season draws closer to the finish line in two weeks.

The Titans fell to 4-6 in games decided by seven points or less, 2-4 in games decided by three points or less and 4-5 in games they’ve led at the half.

How much different would the Titans’ season look if you flipped just half those six losses by a touchdown or less?

What’s happened to the Titans team that — in its first four-and-a-half seasons under coach Mike Vrabel — more often than not found ways to win the vast majority of those close contests?

“I just feel like there was a time where … getting the game into the fourth quarter was our thing,” Titans edge rusher Harold Landry said. “I feel like one-score games was our thing, that we were so confident going into the fourth quarter of close games that we were going to pull it out somehow, some way. This year, just for some reason, we haven’t been able to pull out close games and that’s something we’ve got to focus on moving forward.”

Landry isn’t lying.

In Vrabel’s first four years, the Titans were a team you didn’t want to trail in the second half, a team you didn’t like your chances against when the game was closely contested.

The Titans from 2018 through 2021 were 25-4 when they led at the half, 27-2 when they led after three quarters, 20-10 in games decided by seven points or less and 15-6 in games decided by three points or less.

How could they not feel confident late in games?

Not so much anymore.

We’ll give the Titans offense credit for at least one productive fourth-quarter possession, as Tennessee marched 75 yards on 15 plays — capped by Derrick Henry’s two-yard touchdown run — to take a 17-13 with 3:21 left in the contest.

But neither the defense nor offense could come through when given one last chance to finish the Seahawks (8-7).

The Titans’ defense — which admittedly featured unlikely starters like Marlon Davidson, Jaleel Johnson, Otis Reese IV, Eric Garror and Mike Brown — needed just one stop to, in all likelihood, slam the door shut on the Seahawks. Instead, Seattle drove 75 yards in just over two minutes, overcoming a Landry sack and converting three third downs to score the game-winning points.

It was a difficult drive — and a difficult game — for cornerback Tre Avery, who was flagged for a critical 22-yard pass-interference penalty and was also out-battled by Seattle tight end Coby Parkinson on the final touchdown pass.

“In every game that we’ve lost, it’s pretty much the same,” Titans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair said. “Maybe they have the ball, and we can stop them and make plays to win, or we get the ball on offense and same thing. The last couple of losses here it’s heart-wrenching for everybody.”

The offense had a chance to bail out the defense with a final drive, but failed miserably.

Quarterback Ryan Tannehill was sacked on the Titans’ first play from scrimmage, causing the team to use its final timeout. The Titans wound up gaining all of 18 yards on six plays, far from what was necessary to try a game-winning field goal or even throw one last desperation heave into the end zone.

“It's brutal,” Tannehill said of the ending. “You battle, you keep yourself in the game, find a way to take a lead late. They got the lead, and we didn't do enough to score. … We just came up a few plays short.”

Honestly, we shouldn’t have expected any heroics from this offense, no matter who was quarterbacking.

Tannehill and Will Levis have a combined total of two fourth-quarter comebacks in 15 games this season, one for the veteran and one for the rookie.

How different things were in 2020 and 2021, when Tannehill led the Titans to 10 game-winning drives over a two-year period.

Those Titans found ways to win close games in the late going.

These Titans find ways not to.