Tennessee Titans running back Tony Pollard diving for a score against the Houston Texans Alex Slitz / Getty Images

Titans Slated for Divisional Duel After Bye Week

Originally posted on Tennessee Titans on SI
By Lane Mills | Last updated Nov 9, 2025 7:24 AM ET

For a good football team, a bye week feels like an unfortunate buffer that can often stymie momentum at the midseason juncture; fears of less energy and new trends coming out of the break often dominate such a team's next competition on the other side. For the 2025-26 Tennessee Titans, though? This past bye week was an opportunity to gasp for air in what has been a downright suffocating season up to this point.

Lower the Floor For Expectations

At 1-8, this interim-led Tennessee team is at a low previously thought near-impossible this year, even on the scraped heels of their 3-14 finish in the 2024-25 campaign under the leadership of then-HC Brian Callahan and with now-estranged quarterback Will Levis under center. It's been a brutal season for any faithful watcher that still remains, and coming off the one-week relief, things aren't expected to ease up for the Titans.

Winless in the AFC South, Tennessee will face off against their divison rivals, the Houston Texans, for the second time of the season this weekend. Led by QB C.J. Stroud - who, as it goes with Titans opponents, is starting to find his footing - the Texans are suffering a relatively underwhelming year in their own right.

All the same, they had no problem (to put it lightly) dealing with the Titans the last time the two teams met in Houston.

In what was their only shutout of the campaign, Tennessee fell in agonizing 26-0 fashion to a team that has no place in the playoff picture now, and didn't then, either. Led by a near-perfect performance from the aforementioned Stroud through the air - 22-28 for 233 yards and two touchdowns - the home team downright dominated a visiting Titans team that, despite grabbing one win since, hasn't remotely recovered.

The Titans Haven't Changed

1-4 since their 0-4 start, bookended by the Texans loss, Tennessee appears primed to suffer a similar fate, even on their home field. While the team's first division win would go a long way even at this point, perhaps for pride alone, the Texans have nabbed two wins since their last battle with the Titans.

They're a winning team to some extent; whether or not consistently so, at this point, is irrelevant to their standing over Tennessee. If Tennessee can get out of the game with positive development from their rookies and overall continued health, fans may be able to chalk it up as a win.

Whether or not the final score reflects that may not be a helpful metric for the sanity of one of the NFL's most tried and tested fanbases.

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

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