The 2012 Tennessee Titans were one of the least competitive teams in modern NFL history.

[Guest]

“The 2012 Tennessee Titans were one of the least competitive teams in modern NFL history.”

 

Wait, what?

 

Bad, maybe. But how can a team picking 10^th overall with a 6-10 record be one of the least competitive teams of all time? I mean, we aren’t talking 2008 Lions bad. Or 2008 and 2009 Rams bad. Come on.

 

Actually, I’d argue those teams are the only three even in the 2012 Titans league when it comes to phoning it in.

 

Let me explain.

 

The NFL is probably the most difficult major sports league to judge quality of team from a year to year basis. This is because the sample size is so small.

 

16 games. One and done playoffs. The ultimate NFL cliché: any given Sunday. It’s true for a reason. Teams aren’t as familiar with one another as they are in other leagues, and it’s very possible for a team to go into a game and play above what anyone believed was reasonably possible.

 

So you can have a very good team go 6-10 by losing several close games or you can have a less than great team get 10 wins by benefiting from other teams playing down.

 

How can we tell how good or bad a team is when so many teams are competitive?

 

Well, maybe you can tell what something is by describing what it isn’t. I decided to look at the games in which the Titans were NOT competitive.

 

(Fair warning: amateurish attempt at Football analysis ahead).

 

Arbitrarily I decided to set 20 or more point loses as the mark at which a team was “non-competitive.” These are the kind of ugly, shame inducing blowouts that drive fans to wearing paper bags at home games (if they come at all). For some reason it felt like the Titans had an excruciatingly large number of these games last season—it turns out the reason was because it was true.

 

The Titans lost by 20 or more points 6 times last season. Yikes.

 

So I went back and took a look at all of the teams in the modern NFL era that posted records of 6-10 or worse, the standard the Titans set last season.

 

For this purpose, by the way, I’m defining “modern era” as when the Texans entered the league in 2002.

 

Since then the number of teams that went 6-10 or worse is 113. Below you’ll find a list of those teams, including the number of times they lost by 20 or more points. What I found was disheartening to say the least.  

 

2012: Jets 4, Bills 4, Browns 1, Titans 6, Jaguars 5, Raiders 5, Chiefs 5, Eagles 4, Lions 1, Cardinals 2

 

2011: Dolphins 0, Bills 4, Browns 2, Colts 3, Jaguars 3, Redskins 2, Vikings 3, Panthers 2, Buccaneers 4, Rams 4

 

2010: Bills 5, Browns 1, Bengals 0, Texans 1, Titans 2, Broncos 3, Redskins 2, Cowboys 1, Vikings 2, Lions 1, Panthers 5, 49ers 4, Cardinals 4

 

2009: Bills 4, Browns 4, Raiders 4, Chiefs 5, Redskins 1, Lions 4, Bucs 4, Seahawks 5, Rams 7

 

2008: Bengals 4, Browns 2, Jags 3, Raiders 5, Chiefs 4, Packers 1, Lions 6, Seahawks 3, Rams 7

 

2007: Jets 2, Dolphins 4, Ravens, Raiders 2, Chiefs 1, Falcons 5, 49ers 5, Rams 4

 

2006: Dolphins 1, Browns 2, Texans 3, Redskins 1, Vikings 2, Lions 1, Bucs 2, Cardinals 2

 

2005: Bills 3, Jets 3, Browns 1, Ravens 1, Titans 4, Texans 3, Raiders 1 , Eagles 3, Lions 3, Packers 1, Saints 1, Cardinals 3, 49ers4

 

2004: Dolphins 1, Browns 3, Titans 4, Raiders 4, Giants 2, Redskins 1, Cowboys 4, Lions 3, Bears 1, Bucs 0, Cardinals 3, 49ers 3

 

2003: Jets 0, Bills 3, Steelers 2, Browns 4, Texans 4, Jags 1, Raiders 3, Chargers 2, Redskins 3, Giants 2, Lions 4, Falcons 5, Cardinals 5

 

2002: Bengals 5, Jaguars 0, Texans 3, Cowboys 3, Vikings 1, Bears 1, Lions 5, Cardinals 5

 

In the history of the modern era NFL only four teams have had 6 or more loses by 20 or more points: 2008 Lions (6), 2008 Rams (7), 2009 Rams (7) and 2012 Titans (6).

 

Bad. Really, just very bad.

 

For comparison sake, the 2008 Lions didn’t win a game. The 2008 Rams won two and the 2009 Rams won one. Ugly.

 

Digging a little deeper, I decided to see just how bad teams were that lost more than a quarter of their games.

 

In the list that follows, you will see teams that got blown out five or more times, along with their records.

 

2012: Titans 6-10, Jaguars 2-14, Raiders 4-12, Chiefs 2-14

 

2010: Bills 4-12, Panthers 2-14

 

2009: Chiefs 4-12

 

2008: Raiders 5-11, Lions 0-16, Rams 2-14

 

2007: Falcons 4-12, 49ers 5-11

 

2003: Falcons 5-11, Cardinals 4-12

 

2002: Bengals 2-14, Lions 3-13, Cardinals 5-11

 

Clearly, we were the best of this bad bunch. Which shows me the Titans got creamed as much as some of the WORST teams in NFL history.

 

These drafts produced players such as Carson Palmer, Larry Fitzgerald, Matt Ryan, Matt Stafford, Eric Berry, and Cam Newton and landed us Chance Warmack. I’m hoping he can help us turn things around—but how likely is that?

 

The 2010 Chiefs went from 4-12 and five blowouts to 10-6 and a first round playoff blowout to the Baltimore Ravens. Turn around sparked by new QB Matt Cassel and a good performance from Jamaal Charles.

 

The 2008 Falcons went from 4-12 to 11-5 and a playoff loss to the Cardinals. Added Matt Ryan and Michael Turner.

 

The 2004 Falcons went from 5-11 to 11-5 and made it to the NFC Championship game. This was exclusively due to a Michael Vick return from injury as the team was 3-1 when he returned from injury in 2003.

 

And that’s it. 3 out of 13 teams that got blown out more than five times made the playoffs the next season. The Titans profile for next season doesn't really look anything like one of these teams that took a step forward large enough to land them in the post season. 

 

Like all statistics, analysis, and sports talk this is ultimately meaningless. But it does give us another lens through which to view the 2012 Tennessee Titans and adds more to the conversation when thinking about what might happen in 2013.

 

Personally, I’m an optimist, so I tend to go into each season expecting the Titans to put together a decent run.

 

That being said, if we end up “Clowning for Clowney” I won’t be surprised. 

[IowaOiler]

this is ultimately meaningless.

[TheChosenTitan]

Makes no sense.

[Guest]

Welcome to the dark side Bink. By Dark side I mean someone who can acknowledge how seriously flawed this team is while rooting as hard as ever for them.

[Guest]

Makes no sense.

 

Here's a short version. 

 

The Titans were blown out a bunch last season (6) times. 

 

Only 3 teams since 2002 got dominated as many times. 

 

This means the team didn't field a team that could hang within 20 points of the opponent more times than almost every other team since 2002. 

 

I'm not trying to guarantee the team will suck next year, but this doesn't make me hopeful. We couldn't compete at an alarmingly high rate. 

[TheChosenTitan]

Yea the 0-16 Lions were much more competitive than the 2012 titans

[Guest]

Yea the 0-16 Lions were much more competitive than the 2012 titans

 

 

My basic point is that we were blown out as many times as this team. The nature of this post is hyperbolic, but the point is that the Titans' record was probably better than the actual product they put on the field as they got housed as many times as the team you reference. That statistic is a fact. 

[TheChosenTitan]

If your saying our coaching staff sucks, then your right

[WG53]

The Lions went winless but they had more games within 2 tds or less than we did.

[IowaOiler]

Disagreeing with a BS premise has nothing to do with being unable to admit a team has faults.

 

We sucked last year.  Congratulations, Einstein, now you have created your own metric to prove it....feel better?

[TitansWycheck89]

Just watch the games last year (Or at least attempt to). No need to write a long ass post. That team was awful and very boring to watch. No fire, no spirit.

[Jamalisms]

How about most frequently not competitive... as opposed to least competitive? It's a fair point and can be made many different ways. I don't recall what thread it was in but I remember recently posting how the Titans were frequently not competitive and that was a bigger issue than the record.

You can't be a guaranteed loss to good teams all the time. You'll end up playing too many of them. You have to be able to win against good teams sometimes... and that starts by not getting whooped.

[IsntLifeFunny]

I was actually thinking about this a few weeks ago. The only thing I could figure out was that we don't even lose properly. There is no way we should have been a six win team when we were blown out of so many games. It just feels counterintuitive. But, either way, I don't think higher draft position would have helped us unless we wanted to reach for Mingo or Ansah, and I don't believe either of those guys warranted their selection. I'm fine with Warmack.

 

I can guarantee that the changes we have made to the roster and staff will make us more competitive. Pollard will not let this D lay down. Warmack and Levitre have solidified our line. Williams will make us more aggressive. KB healthy and the addition of Hunter will allow us to stretch the field. We won't get blown out like we were last year.

[IowaOiler]

Hopefully we'll actually win more too.

[SuperFreak90]

We won more games last year than we deserved to win.

 

Lions, Jets games come to mind as two we should have lost.

 

This team should be alot better this year.

 

I don't know if that means 10 wins or 8 wins, but they should be better.