The No. 1-seeded Tennessee Titans bowed out of the postseason with a last-second 19-16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the Divisional Round.
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill was the author of a difficult day, throwing three interceptions and completing 15 of 24 attempts (62.5 percent) with a TD, posting a 66.7 passer rating.
“This is brutal, you know,” Tannehill said. “It’s going to hurt for a long time. It’s going to be on my mind for a long time. It’s going to take a long time to get over it. You don’t look forward to this situation, you don’t expect to be when you had a big break. will heal.”
Tannehill’s day began and ended with interceptions.
The QB was picked off by safety Jessie Bates on the first play from scrimmage. Tannehill then threw an INT on his first pass attempt of the second half after the rushing game threw the Titans inside the 10-yard line. Tannehill became the second QB since 1991 to throw an interception on his first pass attempt. passing both halves of a playoff game, joining HOFer Jim Kelly in Super Bowl XXVI.
After Tennessee tied the game late and had the ball with a chance to win, Tannehill was intercepted again on a deflected pass with 20 seconds remaining in the game. The Bengals took the ball into field goal range for Evan McPherson’s game-winning 52-yard kick.
“We were trying to get an overhand shot,” Tannehill said of the last grueling INT. “They ended up rolling to a Cover 3 zone shape, high corners on Nick, held the inside back with my eyes and tried to get him in there as he went back to the quarterback, only to cross the 50 there.” We had two timeouts and would have had a couple of shots to get into field goal range to kick the game-winning goal.”
Tannehill became the third QB since 1991 to throw interceptions on his first and last pass attempts of a playoff game, joining Tampa Bay’s Chris Simms (2005 WC Rd. vs. WAS) and LA’s Todd Marinovich (1991 Wild). Card Rd. in KC).
Despite the game-altering interceptions, coach Mike Vrabel didn’t pin the loss on Tannehill.
“Well, I don’t think Ryan or I or anyone else has done enough to win the game,” Vrabel said. “That’s how it works. It’s never going to be about one person, not as long as I’m the head coach, which will be a while. So, it’s never going to be about one person. We have to play better, to open up, not fall down. defense has to lose some turnovers, we can’t turn the ball over, we know that. They can’t stop us on opportunities. That’s all the things we talk about and the reasons why you lose. Our third-down conversion was not good enough, our ability to score touchdowns in the red zone. But we all have to play better, we have to train better.”
The Titans have now failed to win a playoff game in each of the three seasons they were the No. 1 seed in the AFC, losing in 2008 (they went 13-3, lost 13-10 to six-seeded Baltimore in Divisional Rd.), and 2000 (went 13-3, lost 24-10 to four-seeded BAL at Divisional Rd.).
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism