Just like the temperature, the Tennessee Titans‘ season hit a low Saturday.
The Titans lost 19-14 against the Houston Texans in the coldest game in Nissan Stadium history Saturday. The Titans (7-8) have lost five straight games for the first time since a six-game losing streak in 2015 and have fallen into a tie atop the AFC South with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
At kickoff, delayed by an hour, the temperature was 20 degrees with a wind chill of 6 degrees.
The Texans (2-12-1) have the worst record in the NFL but were able to come back from a fourth-quarter deficit behind two scoring drives led by second-year quarterback Davis Mills. Titans rookie quarterback Malik Willis, who made his second-career start in place of injured starter Ryan Tannehill, got the ball with 2:52 left and a chance to drive for the game-winning score but threw an interception with 1:33 left.
The Titans got the ball back after a Texans punt and drove across the 50-yard line to the 43 with five seconds left and a chance at a Hail Mary winner. Willis was intercepted on his final heave for the loss.
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Willis threw for 99 yards and rushed for 43 yards with a touchdown. Running back Derrick Henry led the Titans offense with 126 yards and a score, but he was mostly thwarted in the second half after rushing for 83 yards in the first half, including a 48-yard touchdown.
This was the first fourth-quarter comeback win of Mills’ career. Mills led scoring drives of 49 and 73 yards in the fourth quarter, going 9-for-9 with 103 yards on those two drives.
The delay, the record
Neither offense in this game looked poised to break any records, but Mother Nature did. The temperature at kickoff was 20 degrees, making this the coldest game in Nissan Stadium history. With wind chill, the conditions felt like 6 degrees, also breaking a Nissan Stadium record.
Because of extreme temperatures throughout the region, kickoff was postponed by one hour from noon to 1 p.m. The delay was an attempt to not overwhelm the power grid and done in accordance with strategic blackouts throughout the city to preserve power with such high demand for electricity as temperatures dropped.
Offensive line issues continue
Coming into Saturday, the Titans hadn’t had much success protecting their quarterbacks even with their starting offensive line intact. But with starting center and left guard Ben Jones and Nate Davis and rotational sixth-man Dillon Radunz all going on injured reserve this week, the Titans were left with fewer options than normal, and it showed.
The Texans sacked Willis four times and brought runners down behind the line of scrimmage eight more times. Titans linemen were called for three penalties as well.
After halftime, rookie right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere exited the game with an ankle injury, giving way for Le’Raven Clark to be the third reserve playing with the first unit. The Titans’ next five drives after Willis’ third-quarter touchdown ended in three three- or four-and-outs and two turnovers.
Flipping the game
Over the course of their four-game losing streak, the Titans offense went three-and-out on their first drive after halftime all four times. In two of those four losses, the defense also allowed a touchdown the first time it came out in the third quarter.
This week the Titans flipped that script and, in doing so, helped flip the game. Houston went into halftime leading 10-7 and got the ball after the break. But the defense held on a fourth-and-1 in plus territory and gave way to the offense, which thundered ahead with six rushes on six plays, culminating in Willis’ first career touchdown and the Titans’ first lead since the first quarter.
What’s next?
The Titans have a short week ahead of them. They return to action against the Dallas Cowboys in Nashville on Thursday night (7:15 p.m. CT, CBS, Amazon Prime).
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on Twitter @nicksuss.
