Titans fall short vs. Jaguars, miss playoffs: Everything we know

The Tennessee Titans officially completed their collapse in the AFC South in Week 18 after dropping the Saturday night contest to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are now AFC South champs, 20-16.

Despite nobody expecting the Titans to win, it was a heart-breaking defeat, as Tennessee held a 16-13 lead with three minutes left in the contest before Josh Dobbs was sacked and fumbled, leading to a defensive touchdown for the Jaguars, giving them a 20-16 lead.

Buy Titans Tickets

The Titans would have crack at re-taking the lead but failed to convert, allowing the Jags to kneel out the clock and secure the division title.

It was a valiant effort by an injury-plagued and very flawed Titans team, and credit to Dobbs for giving this team a chance, but in the end it just fell short of being good enough.

Now, for the final time this season, let’s dive a bit deeper into what went right and what went wrong in the Titans’ year-ending loss.

Bob Self/Florida Times-Union

Team 1 2 3 4 F TEN 3 10 3 0 16 JAX 0 7 3 10 20

[Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]

The Titans were cooking on their final drive of the game, facing a second-and-7 on the Jags’ 47. However, pass protection broke down yet again and Dobbs was sacked to setup a third-and-12.

Making matters worse after that, Austin Hooper was flagged for a false start, making it a third-and-17, which was just insurmountable with the way Tennessee’s offense played in the second half.

hoto by Courtney Culbreath/Getty Images

RB Derrick Henry: 30 carries, 109 yards; 1 catch, 19 yards

TE Chig Okonkwo: 3 catches, 42 yards, TD

K Randy Bullock: 3-3 FG (long 51), 1-1 XP

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

-Dobbs played well enough for the Titans to win this game, but to nobody’s surprise he was failed by his offensive line, especially in the second half when pass protection really broke down.

-Dobbs did turn the ball over twice, but his interception was on a pass where he was pressured and the defender got a piece of his arm. The fumble he lost saw Dobbs take a hit after yet more pressure.

-On top of bad pass protection, the offensive line struggled to block for the run. Derrick Henry did break the century mark, but he did so at 3.9 yards per carry.

-The defense didn’t do anything particularly well on Saturday night, but they were able to make stops on some key plays throughout the game. As has been the case for just about all of 2022, Tennessee’s defense did its job in a losing effort.

-Todd Downing’s play-calling was atrocious, and hopefully this is the last time we have to say that. Downing had an astounding run-play to pass-play ratio on first downs, with it being somewhere around 19-3 the last time we checked in the fourth quarter. Downing must not be here in 2023.

Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

With the Titans’ season over, there are a lot of questions this team will have to answer during the 2023 offseason, and it all begins with finding a new general manager to pair with Mike Vrabel.

From there, Tennessee has some key players to make decisions on and an offense to fix, amongst many other things. It’s going to be an interesting offseason for sure, and one that will likely bring a lot of changes.