Countdown to Kickoff: 40 Days
The countdown to kickoff continues.
The Tennessee Titans will open the 2020 regular season Sept. 14 at Denver. That is 40 days away. So, today we look at one way the number 40 figures into the team’s recent history.
It was not a day that everything went right for the Tennessee Titans. But the things that went against them were minimal, to be sure.
On Dec. 13, 2009, for the first – and thus far only – time during the Titans era (1999-present), Tennessee won a game by 40 points. In fact, that was the exact margin of victory in their 47-7 rout of the St. Louis Rams at Nissan Stadium.
Injuries forced the Rams to start their third-string quarterback, Keith Null. The Titans’ defense intercepted Null five times, two each by cornerback Cortland Finnegan and linebacker Keith Bulluck (pictured) and one by cornerback Vincent Fuller. The fourth, by Fuller, was returned 45 yards for a touchdown to cap the scoring.
The margin could have been even worse. After two of Tennessee’s first three possessions ended with touchdowns, the next six all stopped short of the end zone (four field goals, two punts).
Then there was the fact that quarterback Vince Young left the game early in the second with a hamstring injury, which he sustained on a 44-yard run. Before he was hurt, Young completed six of eight passes, including one short throw that running back Chris Johnson turned into a 66-yard touchdown reception and a 14-0 lead on the final play of the first quarter.
The 47 points scored are tied for the second highest single-game total of the past 21 seasons. It also was one of 13 games in which the Titans scored 40 or more, but the only one of those in which they held the opponent to single digits on the scoreboard.
