Overreaction Monday: 5 NFL teams better off blowing it all up after three weeks
No. 3 NFL team who should blow it up: Tennessee Titans
Mike Vrabel's reign as the unchallenged king of Tennessee football is coming to an end. The Titans are 1-2 with a couple of stomach-churning losses. Week 3 may be the straw that breaks the camel's back — the Cleveland Browns marched up and down the field at will, strutting over the Titans' overly permeable defense while shutting the offense down in every respect.
Ryan Tannehill mustered 104 yards through the air and Derrick Henry was a non-factor on the ground (11 carries for 20 yards). Henry's sharp decline has been an underrated storyline through three weeks. As Nick Suss of the Tennesseean notes, the Titans' only scoring drive on Sunday featured a net offensive gain of -9 yards.
The Titans offense is basically kaput. Tannehill has made his living as the perfectly adequate game manager-type who gets ranked No. 15 every time the annual QB rankings are put out. His standing is falling fast, however, and he simply doesn't have the weaponry to stay afloat. DeAndre Hopkins has been a nice boon, but he's well past his prime. With Hopkins on the decline and Henry no longer looking like the one-man bedrock of old, it's fair to suggest a teardown in Tennessee.
Vrabel isn't necessarily the man to blame, but his hard-nosed defensive reputation has been conspicuously absent from the Titans' on-field product for a while. If the Titans can't get enough stops to prop up a decaying offense, there's really no hope — even in a mostly uninspiring AFC South.
It is past time for the Titans to pull the plug on the Tannehill era and start fresh. Malik Willis and Will Levis are waiting patiently in the wings. Both have the talent to supplant their veteran captain and one day become quality NFL starters.
The Tennessee rebuild is a matter of when, not if.