NASHVILLE – Get healthy.
Get some rest.
Get better.
The Titans are in the middle of their bye week, a much-needed break after training camp, the preseason, and 12 games so far during the regular season.
Following Sunday's loss to the Patriots, the Titans met early this week for meetings, weightlifting, and conditioning work. Coaches and players – aside from those who are injured and need to rehab – will be off for the rest of the week.
"We have five games left," Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan. "We have to come back, gather ourselves mentally and physically, and take a step forward, and not a step back."
The Titans also need to regain their footing after back-to-back losses.
In the past two games, the Titans have committed nine turnovers without forcing one.
"We still have a lot of confidence in ourselves," safety Kevin Byard said. "But we have to get back to the drawing board and figure out ways to win games, and figure out who we are. In the past few weeks, we have been doing a lot of uncharacteristic stuff, and we have to find … our identity again.
"We have lost some players, some key players. … When you make plays, that's when the swagger and confidence come back, and hopefully we get some momentum. We'll take this bye week, with everybody getting healthy physically and mentally recharge, and get ready for this stretch run."
The Titans are in a pretty good spot at the bye week, currently with a record of 8-4, and a two-game lead over the Colts (6-6) in the AFC South. The Titans also own the tiebreaker, and they currently hold the No.3 seed in the AFC behind the Ravens (8-3) and Patriots (8-4) in the race for the playoffs.
The Titans got to where they are by winning six straight games at one point – all wins over playoff teams from 2020.
But a two-game losing streak has dampened the mood of a banged-up team.
The Titans currently have 18 players on Injured Reserve, and all of the team's inactive players on Sunday were unavailable because of injuries. Through 12 games, the Titans have now used 86 total players this season, the most of any team in the NFL in any season since at least 1993. Since 1993, the previous record number of participants in a season was 84 by the 2019 Dolphins and the 2020 49ers.
Titans head coach Mike Vrabel said earlier this week he expects his team to get some players back when the team returns to action on December 12 against the Jaguars at Nissan Stadium.
"What I reminded them was that we were 15-5 in our last 20 road games and that is because we had played good football, taken care of the football, could run it, stop the run, smart with penalties and that is why you win on the road," Vrabel said. "(Right now we're) trying to figure out who is going to be back after this week, what the roster is going to look like and really focusing on each and every guy on what they need mentally or physically to help them move on to the season after the bye week."
Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill is confident the team will return to its winning form.
What's left for the Titans: Games vs Jacksonville (2-9), at Pittsburgh (5-5-1), vs San Francisco (6-5), vs Miami (5-7) and at Houston (2-9).
"(Take) a little time away, resetting the mind, clearing the head a little bit, and then get ready for a big last section of the season," Tannehill said. "Obviously we have a lot of opportunities out there in front of us. We just need to clean that up, play better football, cleaner football, and start stacking some wins.
"I'm 100 percent confident. Excited that we have that opportunity out in front of us. As things hopefully start coming together for us a little bit, we're cleaning up some of the details and the turnovers obviously. As we get this thing going again, we're going to be in good shape."
