Titans must forget rout quickly in short week
The Tennessee Titans still don't have any sure answers for what has been ailing them as they continue to get blown out, the latest a 30-7 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
Tennessee's defense struggled again even though it played better statistically, giving up a season-low 30 points.
The good news for the Titans (1-4) is they don't have much choice but to move on with the Steelers coming to town Thursday night. Pittsburgh is 2-2 and needs to win on the road to keep in contention in the AFC North, which is led by the Baltimore Ravens (4-1). The Steelers can ill afford to come in and stub their toes against a Titans team that has been listless and non-competitive for most of the season.
In trying to find answers for his own squad, Tennessee coach Mike Munchak hopes the short week helps his players.
"I think you move on. You're forced to move on. They watched the tape of the game yesterday and we moved ahead to Pittsburgh this morning," Munchak said Monday. "It's another opportunity Thursday to make plays and play better and take advantage of situations we haven't been taking advantage of.
"We know this team. We played them last year, and we play them just about every year. It's gonna be a huge challenge for us, but I think that's what you do. You just kind of refocus."
Munchak said the Titans, who have lost four of five, all by at least 20 points, won't make wholesale changes just to make them, but discussions of what changes to make and what adjustments to make are always ongoing even when times are good. In that exchange of ideas, the Titans need to find something that will work on offense and defense -- and find it soon.
"We always do that. That's something that is healthy for any football team to be doing, even when we're winning. Last year, when we were 3-1, we had the same type of meetings," Munchak said. "There are always different ways to do things, and that includes players' opinions. I've been around teams that were 10-0 here a few years ago, and we all still had opinions on whether we should be doing this or doing that, and we hadn't lost a game then. There's no one perfect way to do that, but hopefully, I think we have the people here, between the staff and the players, to do that.
"We haven't shown that in the first five weeks. We know we're responsible for what we're putting out there, and we're the only ones that can fix it."
Running back Chris Johnson said he doesn't believe the Titans are close to fixing their problems right now.
"I don't believe we're close right now. You look at the games and how we're playing, we don't look like a good team. I wouldn't sit here and say we're close," Johnson said.
