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

[OILERMAN]

In a league completely set up for parity the Titans were pitiful. 

 

Lack of talent + a poor coaching staff equals terrible team

[OILERMAN]

Also almost every NFL team has something to hang their hat on.... A good defense, a good running game or a good passing game. The Titans were pretty horrible in every area. The sorry Jets had a good defense, the terrible Bills had a very good running game, The Lions had a good passing game.... what did the Titans have?

[scine09]

Great post and research.

 

If you look at the team they could have easily been 1-15. The only game that they absolutely could not have lost is the Miami game. The Jacksonville game, while it was a blowout, had a bunch of fluky plays and Jacksonville actually had a chance to go up by two scores late in the 1st half before Chad Henne threw the boneheaded INT.

 

The Titans went 5-3 in the toss-up games. 8-0 would have gotten them into the playoffs and 0-8 would have gotten them the first pick in the draft and they'd have been looked at as maybe the 2nd worst team since the league went to a 16-game schedule in 1978.

 

In thinking back on the Colts last year, I would bet that they had very few games that they couldn't have lost if one or two plays hadn't gone differently. They had a gimmie at Jacksonville in week 10 and the final week of the season vs Houston. Outside of that their other 9 wins were all skin of the teeth wins and they probably could have finished with 2 or 3 wins if the ball didn't bounce their way so much.

[scine09]

Just to show you how a team who gets blown out a ton of times can succeed, here is a perfect example:

 

This team lost 4 games by 20+ points (as many as the 2007 Dolphins who won 1 game). They also lost a 5th game in which they were down by 15 points in the 4th before rallying to lose by 8.

 

What team is this? Well they ended up finishing at 9-7, which isn't all that great to begin with. However, this team lost its final game with under a minute to go in the Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

 

The 2008 Arizona Cardinals

[Jamalisms]

Also almost every NFL team has something to hang their hat on.... A good defense, a good running game or a good passing game. The Titans were pretty horrible in every area. The sorry Jets had a good defense, the terrible Bills had a very good running game, The Lions had a good passing game.... what did the Titans have?

A flaming sword that looks like a thumbtack.

 

... and 80+ yard runs in two of those games... and home field advantage in two of the games... and terrible, one-dimensional opponents most of all.

[freakingeek]

Nicely done Bink. I wholeheartedly agree. WE SUCKED. As was said above, no fire, no desire and the most unexciting team to watch since they hit Tennessee. Outplayed. outcoached, outhustled and outmatched.

[Tim]

Fish left this team a mess personnel wise because he mailed in his last two seasons here. After that, we compounded those mistakes by taking a complete flier on a QB in the top ten because he is a "good guy".  No surprise at all where this team is at right now.

[Jamalisms]

 

Fish left this team a mess personnel wise

This much I agree with whole-heartedly.

[OILERMAN]

3 offseasons is an eternity in the NFL

[Guest]

We were well into the season last year and we were still talking about the Titans heading towards a historically bad point differential but not sure how that all concluded. 

[ctm]

I think total point differential would be a better metric for assesing overall competitveness.

[Omar]

JF left this team a mess personnel wise?

 

Guys, the GM on this team was MR, and before that was Reese. I know JF had more personnel say when MR was here...but Reese has made it clear on a few occasions that he had the final call on ALL draft decisions. There is plenty of reasons for people to dislike JF...but glossing over facts to try and improve your point is weak. Maybe JF did want Lendale over Hester, and maybe he begged for it...but Reese made the call.

 

I agree JF needs to stick with coaching...seems like most coaches who try and do the personnel side along with coaching often fail. Holmgren is an example...good coach, terrible at personnel. Shanahan, Parcells, Reid.etc.

 

I also think part of the reason the personnel was bad was because this team tried to go from a running team to a run and shoot type team...they did not have the personnel for that. The talent was kind of weak either way...but going to a run and shoot made it seem even worse. In the end MR turned out to be a shitty GM as far as personnel.

[Guest]

I will disagree on that. Yes Reese owned all the personnel decisions right up until the point he was canned but from then on it was clearly Jeff's show and he had final say on ALL personnel matters. Ultimately he suffered because you can't do better with that level of quarterbacking. 

 

In any case all you have to do is look at his Rams build to know Jeff is a great personnel guy. 

[WG53]

And the delusions continue.

[IowaOiler]

I will disagree on that. Yes Reese owned all the personnel decisions right up until the point he was canned but from then on it was clearly Jeff's show and he had final say on ALL personnel matters. Ultimately he suffered because you can't do better with that level of quarterbacking. 

 

In any case all you have to do is look at his Rams build to know Jeff is a great personnel guy. 

 

How many Pro Bowlers did the Titans draft after Reese left, Einstein? 

 

The Rams?  Are you serious?  Their best players were brought in before Fisher ever got there.