Countdown to Kickoff: 71 Days

Long field goal attempts -- and makes -- were a common occurrence when Rob Bironas was the Titans' kicker.

The countdown to kickoff continues.

The Tennessee Titans will open the 2020 regular season Sept. 14 at Denver. That is 71 days away. So, today we look at one way the number 71 figures into the team’s recent history.

There were times during the 2019 season when it seemed the Tennessee Titans could not make even the easiest field goal attempt.

It was not always that way with this franchise. In fact, there have been years when coaches have been more than willing to attempt long field goals and – particularly when Rob Bironas was their kicker – reasonably would expect to make them.

In the 21 seasons beginning with 1999, Tennessee has attempted 71 field goals of 50 yards or more. That is an average of more than three per season, and more than two-thirds of those split the uprights.

Bironas had the job from 2005-13 and at least once in each of those seasons he made a kick of 50 yards or more. For his career, he was 24-34 from that range (70.6 percent). Seven other kickers during the Titans era were a combined 19-37 (51.4 percent). Ryan Succop, with 11 out of 20, accounted for the bulk of those.

Never was Bironas better than in 2011, when he made six of seven overall from 50 yards or longer and twice made two in a game. Five of the six came in victories, and the only miss was a desperation 66-yard try at the end of the first half in a Week 1 loss at Jaksonville.

His most famous field was the one he made from 60 yards (a franchise record) as time expired against the Indianapolis Colts at Nissan Stadium on Dec. 3, 2006. That kick gave Tennessee a 20-17 victory.

On Oct. 21, 2007, Bironas set an NFL record when he made eight field goals in a game. The first of those was from 52 yards.

All of those long kicks seemed so long ago last fall.