The Tennessee Titans lost to the Cincinnati Bengals for a third time in a row, and to put it lightly, it sucked.
The Bengals came out and beat the Titans at their own game with physicality at the line of scrimmage and a great game plan. The Bengals made more individual plays and came up with clutch conversions late.
And yet, I still feel like the Titans had plenty of chances to win that game. They were never entirely outmatched. When the games are tight like that and you lose, you go looking for answers; what happened?
Well, of course you can blame the defensive plan that consistently put the cornerbacks on an island, or the lack of pass rush. You can, of course, blame the run game that vanished, or the offensive line that got moved around all day.
And you would be justified because, hey, football is a team game, but none of those were the biggest issue. The biggest issue is clear: red zone offense.
The Titans scored zero touchdowns in three trips. What had previously been a strength for the Titans throughout the season suddenly became a weakness.
The Titans had a top-three red zone offense coming into the game, so to see the Titans go 0-3 in that area was not only frustrating, but it ultimately was the difference in the outcome.
So, we know WHAT happened — the Titans didn’t score in the red area — but now we ask: why?
As we always do, let’s dive into the film and see how it all went down…
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