The Tennessee Titans’ 2016 Season Was A Big Success
By Zach Ragan
The Tennessee Titans finished the 2016 in second place in the AFC South with a 9-7 record.
It may not seem like it, after watching Tennessee blow a chance at winning the AFC South, but the 2016 season was a big success for the Titans.
The franchise looked like it was in disarray a little more than a year ago.
Tennessee started the 2015 season with a 1-6 record. They fired second year head coach Ken Whisenhunt after the horrid start and replaced him with interim head coach Mike Mularkey.
The Titans stumbled their way to the end of season, finishing with a 3-13 record (tied for worst in the NFL)
Finishing as the worst team in the NFL doesn’t leave much hope for the ensuing season.
But the Titans decided to keep Mularkey as their head coach, removing the interim tag.
2016 looked like it was going the way of 2015, when Tennessee started off 1-3.
The Titans, however, figured it all out somewhere along the way and won 8 of their final 12 games, to finish 9-7.
Five of Tennessee’s wins came against playoff teams.
The most notable of those wins came on December 18 on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Kansas City finished as the second best team in the AFC.
After the Titans’ win against the Chiefs, most folks felt like Tennessee was destined to win the AFC South.
But that’s not how football works. The Titans lost to the Jaguars, which sealed the division for the Houston Texans.
Titans fans, understandably, were pretty bummed they missed the playoffs. Especially when they were so close to a division title.
It’s important, however, to take a step back and look at look at Tennessee’s 2016 season as a whole.
The Titans improved their win total by six games. They beat some of the best teams in football.
And they had a young franchise quarterback leading them the entire way.
With Marcus Mariota under center, the sky is the limit for the Titans.
The AFC South should be wide open once again next season.
And I don’t care what the media pundits say about Andrew Luck, the Titans might have the best quarterback situation in the division.
I understand what Luck has done statistically. It’s impressive. But take TY Hilton away from him and imagine how his numbers would look.
At the end of the day, the only numbers that really matter are wins and losses.
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Marcus Mariota, at this point, is just as capable of delivering big time wins as Andrew Luck.
The Titans are only going to get better next season. Houston is only going to get worse. Indy is a complete wild card. And Jacksonville is undergoing yet another coaching change.
I think Tennessee will be the favorites to win the AFC South in 2017.