Entering Sunday’s game, the Tennessee Titans hoped to begin a season of proving themselves. They wound up with head coach Brian Callahan failing to prove he knows the rules in Week 1. And here are the Titans most to blame for the Week 1 loss to the Broncos.
The Denver defense spoiled the Titans’ 2025 debut in a 20-12 decision. The good news for the Titans is that they hung around on the road against a prohibitive favorite. So they can at least carry positives moving forward.
However, it’s time to assess what went wrong and where the fingers of blame should be pointed.
Titans rookie QB Cam Ward didn’t have a great debut
It’s the NFL, and teams often don’t give rookie QBs much time to adapt. And when you’re the No. 1 overall pick, results must come faster. And Ward’s NFL seemed to be lacking quite a bit, according to Tennesseetitans.com
Still, Callahan defended his young signal-caller.
“He was under some duress, and I thought he did a good job protecting the football,” Callahan said of Ward, who completed 12-of-28 passes for 112 yards on Sunday.
Ward was sacked six times and lost a fumble late.
“He managed the protections, he managed some difficult third downs,” Callahan said. “I would have liked to have seen us help him a little more around him — we dropped four or five passes that would have helped us a lot and made the day feel a little bit different, had we connected on a few of those. And he never got rattled at any point. His ability to continue to battle and stand in there was impressive.”
But all hope is not lost, according to tennesseetitans.com. And it wasn’t all about Ward.
“There were times when Ward needed to get rid of the football sooner,” Jim Wyatt wrote. “But I thought Ward showed poise and confidence, on a day when he was victimized by drops and at times shaky protection. If the Titans are going to win games this season, they're going to have to be better around their quarterback.”
Titans head coach Brian Callahan struggled
It doesn’t help matters that Brian Callahan doesn’t have a firm grip on the NFL rulebook. It’s hard to imagine Callahan didn’t have time to digest the rule book in the offseason or last year. And now his lack of understanding helped his team lose a football game, according to the Titans’ YouTube page via NBC Sports.
Brian Callahan had a confusing explanation for not using a challenge Sunday – NBC Sports
“Yeah, you gotta get a foot in bounds too,” Callahan said. “We didn’t have a clean look at whether his foot was down as well. An elbow doesn’t equal two feet, so his foot would’ve had to come down as well. The call from upstairs was that it wasn’t worth challenging.”
On Monday, Callahan admitted his mistake.
“Ultimately, my interpretation of the rule was wrong,” Callahan said. “I'll own it. We should've challenged the play. That's pretty much all I can say about it is I'll own the mistake. We should've challenged it and that's where it stands.”
Another problem came from undisciplined play. The Titans totaled 131 yards worth of penalties.
“I was disappointed by that,” Callahan said. “The amount of work that we put into it, to have that show up in the opening game was definitely disappointing.”
Titans’ offensive line didn’t hold up
The Titans have to get some leeway because the Broncos have a tremendous defense. However, the offensive line must play better, according to TitansWire.com
“The Titans’ offense looked completely overwhelmed by the Broncos’ attacking defense,” Mark Mihalko wrote. “The rebuilt offensive line struggled to protect Cam Ward, and everything cascaded from there. Tennessee could not sustain anything on offense and struggled even when the defense presented them with golden opportunities.
There were more offensive problems. Five players had a Pro Football Focus grade of 50.6 or lower: LT Dan Moore Jr. (38.1), LG Olissaemeka Udoh (38.9), C Lloyd Cushenberry (49.9), WR Elic Ayomanor (50.5), and WR Tyler Lockett (50.6).
Defenders who struggled were: DT Carlos Watkins (46.7), S Amani Hooker (47.1), LB Oluwafemi Oladejo (47.1), NT T'Vondre Sweat (49.5), and LB Arden Key (52.1).
That’s chock-full of low grades. But the good news is, there’s plenty of room for improvement. And teams generally improve a lot from Week 1 to Week 2.
Overall, the Titans have miles to go. They did stay competitive against one of the top teams in the NFL. So there is a positive takeaway there. However, Ward must prove he's ready for NFL-level competition. Yes, the Broncos' defense will be tough even on veteran QBs this year. But Ward, Callahan, and the offensive line must find ways to work together, get better, and find a rhythm. Or else, the Titans may have another high draft pick in 2026.
