The Tennessee Titans defense huddling up Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Defense Has Become the Titans' Main Problem

Originally posted on Tennessee Titans on SI
By Lane Mills | Last updated Nov 30, 2025 3:03 PM ET

The Tennessee Titans, for the vast majority of their 2025-26 campaign, have become known for their league-worst offensive unit. Led by inexperience and helmed with inconsistency, the scoring unit, behind rookie quarterback Cam Ward, has operated at an unreliable level for the entirety of the season so far.

In Tennessee's lone win (the team has an overall 1-10 record), it was a defensive mishap on the behalf of the Arizona Cardinals that ultimately allowed the Titans to score and pull away.

On the other hand, while not expressly "good," Tennessee's defense has often been the factor that keeps them in games when the offense is faltering. A string of stops here, an occasional turnover there and even in losses, you've got a chance. But as the team has turned the corner well into the second half of their year, roles have slowly flipped, at least to an extent.

After last week's narrow 30-24 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the Titans' offense, fueled by a fiery improvement from the aforementioned Ward, has seen positive reception among watchers for perhaps the first time regularly all season. Inversely, the defense has only seemed to worsen in response.

For Tennessee, it seems to be the inability to be good at two things at once. The team's growing defensive ineptitude is reflected beyond their visible downfall and in the statistics, too; although it is their on-field performance that raises the most eyebrows in the mainstream.

TD @Jaguars, too easy vs @Titans
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) November 30, 2025

Titans' team reporter Jim Wyatt described a Jaguars touchdown as "too easy," as Tennessee found themselves down by two scores (15-3) early on in this week's divisional matchup at home against Jacksonville.

League-Worst Metrics

According to FOX Sports, the Titans have the composite 26th-best defense in the league. Having allowed a total of 35 touchdowns to opponents on an average of 352.5 yards per game, Tennessee's numbers appear about as dire as possible from the outside looking in.

More specifically, the team ranks 20th in passing defense and 25th in rushing defense, scraping the bottom of the barrel in both regards (even if slightly less so through the air) as one of the easiest groups to score on in the NFL.

Even though the offense still isn't much better, their improvement and heavy rookie concentration provide a greater excuse than the defense's recent struggles to leave a remote impact on the ultimate result of any given game.

This article first appeared on Tennessee Titans on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: