Standings watch: nowhere to go but up

The Tennessee Titans know as well as anyone how quickly things can change in the NFL.

Three weeks into the season, they are the last-place team in the AFC South. It is a far cry from Week 1, when they were alone in first as the division’s only team to start 2019 with a victory.

So the current mindset is that there is more than enough time to climb back into the upper half of the division and – presumably – into playoff contention.

“You face different challenges, you face different situations, you face things every day that you have to try to get people moving in the right direction, and that’s what we’re going to do,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “We put ourselves in this position three games into the season, and we’re going to do everything we can to get to 2-2.”

The good news is that there is little difference between the top (Houston and Indianapolis at 2-1) and the bottom (Jacksonville and Tennessee at 1-2) of the division. So the possibility of another quick turnaround does not seem that far-fetched.

The bad news is that the reason the Titans are where they are is because both of their losses have been to AFC South teams. The 20-7 defeat at Jacksonville last Thursday was preceded by a 19-17 loss at home against Indianapolis.

That makes Tennessee one of three teams that already has two division losses this season. The others are the N.Y. Jets and Washington, neither of which has won any game yet (Washington’s Week 3 contest is Monday against Chicago).

In the history of the AFC South, which was created in 2002, the Titans never have made the playoffs with more than two division defeats. They were 6-0 in those contests in 2002, 5-1 in 2017 and 4-2 in 2003, 2007 and 2008.

A rundown of the current AFC South standings, including each team’s record in intra-division games:

Team	Overall record	Division record
Houston	2-1	1-0
Indianapolis	2-1	1-0
Jacksonville	1-2	1-1
Tennessee	1-2	0-2

Speaking of 2002, back then the Titans overcame a 1-4 start, finished 11-5 and ultimately played in the AFC Championship. In that instance, though, none of those early losses were in division games. Two, in fact, came in contests with teams from the NFC.

The turnaround started with a five-game winning streak that included victories over the other three AFC South clubs in a span of four games. Tennessee ultimately was one of two teams to go undefeated in division games that year and it won the AFC South by one game over Indianapolis.

Given the current state of affairs, the Titans will have to think about being alone at the top – as they were not too long ago – because two early division defeats will make tiebreakers difficult.

“It’s still early in the season,” cornerback Malcolm Butler said. “We’ve got 13 games left. A lot of teams are 0-3 that will make the playoffs this year. So no need to panic so early.

“But everybody wants to win right away, including myself. We’re just going to keep working hard, keep believing in each other and we’re not going to give up. We’re most definitely not going to give up.”