Playoff Chances Shrink With Latest Loss

The unraveling of the Tennessee Titans continued Sunday with a 17-14 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Two months into the season, the Titans were rolling right along, winners of five straight games.

Just a month ago, the Titans were 7-3, still thinking about claiming one of the AFC’s top playoff seeds following an impressive road victory at Green Bay.

But after the last-second defeat at SoFi Stadium, the Titans (7-7) have lost four straight games for the first time under coach Mike Vrabel and have a tenuous hold atop the AFC South.

“Nothing I can tell them that’s going to make them not be disappointed, upset,” Vrabel told media in Los Angeles. “They spilled their guts out there.

“Nothing you can really say to them other than get some rest. We’ve got to spill our guts again and find a way to win on Saturday.”

The Jacksonville Jaguars (6-8), 40-34 overtime winners against the Dallas Cowboys, are now just one game behind the Titans in the division with three weeks left in the season.

The Titans’ remaining schedule: home against Houston on Saturday; home against Dallas on Dec. 29; at Jacksonville on Jan. 8.

The Jaguars’ remaining schedule: at the New York Jets on Thursday; at Houston on Jan. 1; home against the Titans on Jan. 8.

Because the Indianapolis Colts lost earlier this weekend, the Titans do have a “worst-case” scenario open to them in terms of making the playoffs. Tennessee can lose its next two games, go into the regular-season finale at 7-9 and still reach the postseason by beating Jacksonville in the finale – even if the Jaguars win their next two. A victory in that scenario would give the Titans the tiebreaker over Jacksonville because of a better division record.

But the Titans’ path to the postseason certainly doesn’t look as secure as it did just a couple of weeks ago, prior to the home loss to Jacksonville.

Consider: 

• In the eyes of the New York Times’ playoff simulator, the Titans’ chances of reaching the postseason were at 86 percent at the beginning of Sunday, and slipped to 69 percent following the loss to the Chargers.

• NBC’s Steve Kornacki gave the Titans an 88 percent chance of making the playoffs prior to the loss in Los Angeles, but 65 percent after the defeat.

• The website FiveThirtyEight.com gave the Titans a 78 percent chance of making the playoffs at the start of Sunday, but the percentage dropped to 58 following the loss to the Chargers.

The bigger question, of course, is just how significant it would be make to make the playoffs, given the current state of things.

The Titans made strides defensively against the Chargers, holding a high-powered offense to just 17 points – after surrendering 35 points to Philadelphia two weeks ago and 36 to Jacksonville last week. The Titans sacked quarterback Justin Herbert three times and intercepted him twice – after totaling a combined four sacks and zero interceptions in the previous four games.

But the offense took another step backward, failing to build on last Sunday’s mildly encouraging 22-point performance against Jacksonville.

The Titans went three-for-11 on third downs against the Chargers, totaled 284 yards of offense and were held to 20 points or fewer for the ninth time in 14 games this season.

Let’s not forget either that the Titans have beaten only one team with a winning record this season – the Washington Commanders. The Titans’ six other chances against teams with a winning record – Buffalo, Kansas City, Cincinnati, the Chargers, Philadelphia and the New York Giants – all resulted in losses.

Does that really sound like a team that can make waves in the playoffs, even if it finds its way in?