Titans Preseason Finale

By Bill Murphy

Nashville -Well, after a 34-3 victory last week against the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Bucs, The Titans are starting their final week of the preseason on a chaotic note. On Thursday, it had been reported that nine players and coaches have either tested positive for Covid 19 or have been placed into Covid 19 protocol, including head coach Mike Vrabel and quarterback Ryan Tannehill. As a result, Tannehill will not start again, and Offensive coordinator Todd Downing will be taking the clipboard with the assistance of defensive coordinator Shane Bowen for tonight’s game against the Chicago Bears.

With Tannehill on the bench, the backup QB fight between Matt Barkley and Logan Woodside will reach the finale. Tonight plans that Barkley will start and will rotate with Woodside. Both of them have had impressive performances over the preseason games. Logan Woodside has thrown for a total of 17 completions out of 23 attempts,128 yds, and two touchdowns, while Barkley has thrown 17 completions out of 24 attempts, 169 yards, and three touchdowns. We will get a bigger picture of who will be the #2 to Tannehill after tonight’s game.

As it has been the last two weeks, there will again be a very backup-heavy game. Alongside Tannehill, there will be no AJ Brown, Julio Jones, and Derrick Henry as they are both recovering from injuries. Brown is expected to be playing week one against Los Angles, while Jones participated in limited practice this week. That means it will be up to Cameron Baston and Mason Kensey to carry the team receiving game this week while Mehki Sargeant will be covering the running game.

A strong point of this team has been the defense, who have held opponents to 406 yards, eight sacks, three interceptions, no touchdowns, and two field goals. This week, the defense will have a bit of a challenge as they will be facing Chicago’s new quarterback, first-round draft pick Justin Fields from Ohio State. They need to cover and pressure Fields throughout the game.

An Important point to remember in this last preseason game is that this is the last game before the roster gets reduced from 80 to 53. So whoever plays tonight better play like it is his last game because it just might be as cut down day is on Tuesday. So who will be Tannehill’s backup? That question and many others will be answered after tonight’s game between the Titans and Bears at 7 pm eastern time.