Reasons to be skeptical about the Titans’ Super Bowl chances

The Tennessee Titans are coming off one of their most successful regular seasons in franchise history.

The Titans went 12-5 and secured the No. 1 seed in the AFC despite all the adversity they had to overcame all season long.

Yesterday, I went over the reasons to be optimistic about the Titans’ season outlook. Today, I’m going to play devil’s advocate and go over some of the reasons to be skeptical.

The Titans may be an incredibly talented, resilient, and well-coached team, but there’s no denying that a Super Bowl run is likely going to be an uphill battle this season.

Tomorrow I will be discussing ways that Tennessee can improve their overall chances, but for now, let’s dive right into some of the reasons to be skeptical about the Titans’ championship aspirations in 2022.

Ryan Tannehill

AP Photo/Brett Carlsen

The unfortunate truth is that no matter what the Titans do in the regular season, this fanbase, the national media, and opposing fans are probably going to remain skeptical of the Titans’ championship chances until their offense gives them a reason to believe otherwise come mid-January.

Most of that has to do with quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who had plenty of skeptics even before his three-interception game against the Bengals. Not only has he proven he can’t carry the Titans to a Super Bowl, he has also shown he can be the biggest roadblock to one.

Titans traded arguably their best player while AFC got better

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

This is probably the biggest reason to remain skeptical of the Titans’ Super Bowl chances, in my opinion.

This offseason has been unlike any other, especially for the AFC. The amount of veteran talent that has flooded into the conference has been astounding.

The Titans have done their fair share as well, as they added Robert Woods and Austin Hooper, among others.

But the reality is, while other AFC teams brought in superstar talent at seemingly every position, the Titans traded arguably their best and most impactful player, A.J. Brown, to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Fortunately, the Titans did draft a phenomenal young receiver talent in Treylon Burks to help ease the loss of Brown.

When it’s all said and done, there is a reasonable chance that Tennessee ends up a better team after draft weekend, but there’s no denying that they are essentially betting the house on a parlay of picks.

Because of this, there’s going to be a tremendous amount of unfair pressure and expectations for Burks to instantly produce at a high level. But until we actually see the rookie on the field in live-game action, all championship expectations should be on a wait-and-see approach.

Thin wide receiver group

Steve Roberts-USA TODAY Sports

Back to my point I just concluded with: the Titans are going to be heavily reliant on their rookie wide receivers to produce.

Many are just expecting Burks to step into the lineup and produce the way he did in college. Some even expect him to replicate Brown’s production upon his arrival.

Maybe that is how all this plays out and the Titans end up looking like geniuses at the end of the year.

Sadly, there is no way to know whether Burks’ rookie campaign will be closer to Brown’s, Corey Davis’, or somewhere in between.

That type of mystery is just one reason to be concerned. Another reason is that their other receiver who is slated to be the No. 1 option with Brown gone, Robert Woods, is coming off an ACL injury in November.

As fantastic as his recent recovery videos look, there’s no real way to know how long it will take for Woods to return to his true form.

Behind Woods and Burks is an extremely thin group of wide receivers who are mostly unproven at the NFL level.

Don’t get me wrong, Burks and fifth-round pick Kyle Philips are exciting pieces, but expecting them to instantly be the next Brown and Hunter Renfrow (a popular pro comp for Philips) is likely setting yourself up for disappointment.

I know most fans like to be extreme in their beliefs one way or another, but cautious optimism is undoubtedly the smartest approach to take when heading into the 2022 season.

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