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Titans' season ends with loss to Bengals: Everything we know

The Tennessee Titans’ 2021 season is over after losing to the Cincinnati Bengals, 19-16, in the divisional round of the playoffs.

The game was a microcosm of what we’ve seen for much of the season: the Titans’ offense was not good outside of a few plays, and the defense did all it could to save the day.

Unfortunately, the defense’s effort simply wasn’t enough to overcome Tennessee’s offensive blunders, which included three interceptions by Ryan Tannehill, who was flat-out awful in this game.

Despite all their issues, the Titans were in position to win this game late. With the game tied at 16, the Titans had the ball with under two minutes remaining, but Tannehill’s pass was tipped and picked, setting the Bengals up for their game-winning field goal, which they hit just plays later.

Now, if you can stomach it, let’s take a deeper dive to see what went wrong for the Titans.

Final score: Bengals 19, Titans 16

Syndication: The Enquirer

Team 1 2 3 4 F
CIN 6 3 7 3 19
TEN 0 6 10 0 16

 

It was over when...

Syndication: The Enquirer

Bengals kicker Evan McPherson made a 52-yard field goal as time expired to give Cincinnati the 19-16 win. McPherson was the Bengals’ player of the game by far, as his four field goals accounted for 12 of the team’s 19 points. Two of his makes were from 50-plus yards.

Titans' top performers

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

-A.J. Brown: 5 rec., 142 yards, TD

-Jeffery Simmons: 8 tackles, 3 sacks

-Amani Hooker: 8 tackles, INT

Key stats and instant analysis

Syndication: The Enquirer

-Ryan Tannehill was terrible in this game and was the biggest reason why the Titans lost. Pass protection was good, but he was missing throws all game long, and he tossed three picks, all of which were just poor decisions and momentum crushers. Six of the Bengals’ 19 points came on drives after Tannehill picks, and his interception in the third quarter from the nine-yard line was one of the most crushing plays of the game. The contest got off to an ominous start, also, with Tannehill throwing an interception on the first play of the game.

-Tannehill did not help himself with his detractors in this game and the debate about if the Titans should look elsewhere for a quarterback will rage during the offseason. Even if the Titans want to move on from him, Tannehill carries dead cap hits of $57.4 million and $18.8 million the next two years, so it might not be possible.

-Despite the offensive struggles, the Titans had two cracks at taking the lead late, but those drives ended with a turnover on downs (partly thanks to shoddy play-calling by Todd Downing) and an interception.

-A.J. Brown was sensational. He had several big plays to give Tennessee’s lifeless offense some juice, including two catches of 30-plus yards that helped Tennessee score both of their touchdowns. He was absolutely dominant en route to breaking the Titans’ playoff record for most receiving yards in a game with 142.

-Julio Jones provided some support with 62 yards through the air, the second-most he had in a game all season.

-It was tough sledding for the Titans on the ground outside of a big run for D’Onta Foreman. Derrick Henry averaged a little over three yards per carry and finished with 62 yards, while Foreman finished with 66 on four carries. If you take away Foreman’s 45-yard run, the Titans averaged just

-The Titans’ pass-rush was dominant all game long, totaling nine sacks, tying the NFL record for the most in a playoff game. Jeffery Simmons led the way with three, and the Bengals’ offensive line was no match for Tennessee’s front. Unfortunately, the all-time great performance by the pass-rush was wasted.

-The rest of Tennessee’s defense did enough to keep the Bengals in check, but barely. Tackling was poor and it led to some big plays for Cincy, and the secondary was playing too soft on several occasions and allowed a handful of 20-plus yard plays. Jackrabbit Jenkins got burnt on multiple occasions and Kristian Fulton’s missed tackle in the first quarter paved the way for a 57-yard reception by Ja’Marr Chase that setup a Bengals field goal. Tennessee didn’t provide any resistance on the Bengals’ game-winning drive, either.

-The Bengals for 1-2 in the red zone, and the Titans were 1-3. One of those red zone trips for Tennessee ended with a back-breaking pick with the Titans at the nine-yard line. It was quite the momentum killer after Foreman busted a 45-yard run on the play prior to set the Titans up in the red zone.

Injuries

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

-David Long suffered an injury in the third quarter but was able to return.

Highlights

AP Photo/John Amis

What's next?

Syndication: The Tennessean

All that’s left is for the Titans to pick up the pieces and look ahead to the 2022 season after this devastating loss. There will no doubt be a debate about the Titans moving on from Tannehill, but they won’t really have a choice but to stick with him thanks to massive dead-cap numbers the next two years. Barring some kind of trade, Tannehill will be here for at least one more season.

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