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From 0-6 to 5-6 and with 5 games remaining the Tennessee Titans are only 2 games back from a potential Wild Card spot in the Playoffs. Crazy isn't it? How did this seamlessly lifeless team possibly pull off 5 straight victories?
Remember the first six weeks of the season, how unbelievable Tennessee's win-less start was? With 20 of 22 starters returning, they should have picked up where they left off. The talent was certainly there.The "better than their record" quotes were beginning to sound like, well, a broken record. This was not a team that lacked key personnel. It's as simple as this. The Titans were not playing good football. It became obvious a change was needed to spark some type of fire into the team after it's 3rd straight loss to the Jets. But, nothing of the sort was done. Instead of shaking things up, Coach Fisher opted to ride it out with what he had. At the time, he deemed a quarterback change to be a move of desperation. You can't really blame the guy, he had a 50/50 chance and did the best he could.
Of course, in hindsight, it's obvious what he should have and ultimately did do. After Tennessee's 6th straight loss, which was an embarrassing 59-0 defeat to the New England Patriots, they entered their bye week. Everyone knew what was coming. It was time to make the change. Vince Young was announced as the teams starting quarterback for the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Some said he was finished, destined to ride the bench for the rest of his career wherever that may have been. But it was just simply too early to give up on such a great talent like Vince Young. Surely his talent would of proved useful somewhere, if not with the Titans.
Entering the game against the Jaguars, the Titans seemed to have a completely different "swagger" about them. Chris Johnson, who I will mention a lot, very quickly benefited greatly with Vince Young now in the driver's seat. The Titans came out of the tunnel ready to play and boy did they ever play football the way it's supposed to be played. Chris Johnson went off for 228 rushing yards, a franchise record that was previous held by Billy Cannon in 1961. Entering the 4th quarter Johnson broke off an 89 yard touchdown run which was basically the "knockout punch" in the Titans 30 to 13 victory. Vince Young looked like a completely different player going 15/18 for 125 yards, one touchdown, and get this, ZERO interceptions! In addition to the offensive improvement that Young sparked, the defense had begun to play better as well.
So how, exactly, has Chris Johnson benefitted from switch from Collins to Young? Young's ability to run the ball creates mismatches in defenses. You can't just focus all your attention to Johnson with Vince being able to take off at any time during the game. You have to basically "spy" them both so you don't get confused as to who to put your full attention on. The Titans finally got the monkey off their back and got themselves a victory. While everyone was happy about the win, the excitement quickly diminished as everyone realized at 1-6 there was absolutely no way they could get back into the playoff chase. They had to take it one game at a time and hope for the best.
The week after the Jaguars game they traveled to San Francisco to play the 49ers. The 2nd best rushing defense in the NFL statistically. It was going to be a huge test. What if Johnson couldn't get going? Would Young have to beat them with his arm? Well not quite. While Young did have another mistake free game going 12/19 for 172 yards that wasn't the key in the Titans 34 to 27 victory. Chris Johnson and Vince Young made the 49ers 2nd best rush defense look, well, not so amazing to say the very least. They went off for 149 combined rushing yards and 3 touchdowns. As I said, with Vince Young's ability to run the ball it helps Johnson out a lot as this game proved.
Over the course of this win streak, which is now at five games, Vince Young has been the key. I could break down the other three games as I did with the first two but the point is the Titans have turned their season around and a big reason is because of Vince Young. Young has finally shown that he has the ability to beat you with his arm. In last week's game against the Cardinals, Young engineered a 99 yard come from behind drive to win the game as the time expired, throwing a 10 yard strike in the back of the end zone to Kenny Britt. He also converted three fourth downs on the drive. With his new found life, the sky is the limit for Young. Chris Johnson, on the other hand, is just phenomenal. At the current pace he's at, he has a realistic chance to break the single season rushing yards record held currently by Eric Dickerson with 2105 yards.
While happy days are here again in Tennessee the fact remains that Young's insertion in the lineup and subsequent stellar play, is not the complete reason the Titans have rediscovered their winning ways. Johnson is just as much the reason for this turnaround.Young simply set off a spark that has turned into wildfire in Nashville. Without the change at quarterback though, this article could have very well been titled "Will the Titans replicate the 08 Lions win-less season?"
Giving Young the credit makes for a good headline, yes. But his story is still being written.
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