Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward (1) looks for a receiver through the Indianapolis Colts defense during the fourth quarter at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Titans Avoid Last Place in New Power Rankings

Originally posted on Tennessee Titans on SI
By Luke Hubbard | Last updated Sep 24, 2025 7:00 AM ET

The Tennessee Titans' season has gotten off to a rocky start. Year two under Head Coach Brian Callahan was supposed to signal a new era of Titans football. They drafted their quarterback of the future, Cam Ward, first overall and brought in some big names through free agency and the draft, but it hasn't gone as planned yet.

After a pair of losses in Week 1 and Week 2, the Titans hosted the Indianapolis Colts for their first divisional game of the season. The Colts, who entered the game 2-0, were looking to keep rolling with Daniel Jones under center, and they did just that, scoring 41 points in a blowout victory.

Despite the ugly loss, the Titans ranked 29th in NFL.com's newest power rankings. Here's what they had to say about the Titans.

"With a pick-six less than a minute into the game, two missed field-goal tries and some painful penalties, the Titans put themselves in a deep hole they couldn’t get out of against the Colts," NFL.com's Eric Edholm wrote. "That’s now two home losses where they’ve been outclassed by better-caliber teams, giving them a clear measuring stick to aim for -- one they can’t quite yet reach."

"The most concerning element was the lack of energy early, and Colts WR Michael Pittman Jr. said he could sense it in pregame warmups. Brian Callahan has a lot of work to do to keep this team competitive. The Titans can build around Cam Ward and a few of their encouraging offensive pieces, but they’ve been borderline anemic offensively for stretches and not much better defensively. With three straight (and four of the next five) on the road, Tennessee has to turn the tide quickly or risk another long, losing season."

The Titans don't have the toughest schedule ahead of them, but there isn't a single game you can point to and say, "they're definitely winning that one." This team just hasn't lived up to expectations, which were already pretty low heading into the year.

Offensively, they're averaging 17.0 points (28th) and 222.3 yards (31st) per game. They've allowed 15 sacks and 46 pressures, average just 3.8 yards per carry and have suffered from too many drops. Callahan did just give play calling duties over to QB coach Bo Hardegree, so we'll see if that can help, but right now, the offense looks dead in the water.

After a pretty good Week 1 performance, the Titans defense has completely fallen off and surrendered 39 and 41 points in back-to-back weeks. The pass rush is virtually non-existent and their defensive backs haven't been playing all that well.

Overall, there's just not a lot to like about the Titans right now. They need to fix issues on every level, and that's incredibly hard to do midseason. They could be starring down the barrel of another three-win season, and Callahan could be gone by the end of the year if they don't turn things around.

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

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