Cam Ward on Pace to Break Titans Passing Curse

The last time the Tennessee Titans were a remotely formidable team in the NFL, they had a long-term, reliable quarterback to rely on in the form of Ryan Tannehill. While the now-retired (as of last month) signal caller never took the franchise to championship heights, he spurred Tennessee to multiple winning seasons, making multiple memories still revered by fans today.

But as the Mike Vrabel era wound down and, eventually, spun out into the mess that the franchise is still suffering through today, Tannehill gave way to multipel short-term options at the most important position on the team. Tennessee hasn't had anything close to permanence under center since, until now.

Face of the Franchise

Even given his ups and downs, rookie and first overall pick Cam Ward is shaping up to be everything the Titans were asking for coming into the season. Now, over the final four games, Ward can reach a significant metric that may fully signal the return of a reliable, franchise-leading quarterback in Tennessee.

If Ward can average at least 133 yards passing through his next four contests, he'll break the 3,000 yard mark on the 2025-26 season. The last Titans QB to do so? Ryan Tannehill, in 2021.

The writing is on the wall for the Titans' return to competitiveness behind a consistent quarterback.

Cam Ward needs to average 133 yards passing over the final four games to reach 3,000 yards for the season. Ryan Tannehill was the last to reach that mark in 2021 for the Titans.
— Terry McCormick (@terrymc13) December 9, 2025

Writing on the Wall

After a subpar start to his rookie campaign, Ward has steadily improved since the firing of former head coach Brian Callahan after six weeks of competition. While interim HC Mike McCoy likely won't be in the same spot next season, the consistency of his system over time has provided Ward the stability he needed to settle into his role and, really, the league as a whole.

The result has been a few weeks of fairly impressive football from the first-year passer as well as, last week, the team's first win under McCoy.

In comparison to that aforementioned 2021 Tannehill season, Ward falls short of both the veteran's passing touchdowns (17) and interceptions (14). The rookie has 9 and 7, respectively. But if he does end up hitting that 3,000 mark, Titans fans can take it as an early indicator that something good came from this overall abysmal season after all.

Regardless, as Ward continues to develop and impress and the team searches for a new captain, the franchise at least has hope that the future is finally trending in the right direction.

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