Four 2020 Titans Games Fit for Prime Time

NASHVILLE – The last time the Tennessee Titans reached the conference championship game (2002) they were rewarded with a pair of prime-time contests the next season. One was on a Sunday night. One was on a Monday.

The last time they made the playoffs (2017), once again two contests, not counting their mandatory Thursday appearance, ended up under the lights (a third was flexed into the Sunday night slot late in the year) the next season. Both were on Monday night.

So, coming off a playoff run that ended one game short of the Super bowl and included two high-profile upsets on the road, it seems likely that the 2020 Titans won’t play all of their games in the light of day. They have a bona fide attraction in 2019 NFL rushing champion Derrick Henry, an exciting and engaging head coach in Mike Vrabel and a style of play goes against the grain of the current trends.

The NFL plans to release the schedule for the coming season this week. Here are the games that have the most prime-time appeal:

• at Baltimore: Tennessee was the team that derailed the Ravens’ dream season and actually slowed down quarterback Lamar Jackson and the rest of their running game. And it all went down in Baltimore. The world will want to know if it can happen again.

• vs./at Houston: Whichever one of these games falls later on the schedule is bound to be considered. The Texans have won the division four of the last five years and they have one of the game’s most exciting young quarterbacks in DeShaun Watson. The Titans have finished second in three of the last four years. When it comes to identifying potential division showdowns late in the year, this will be high on the list.

• at Cincinnati: This has more to do with the Bengals than it does the Titans. With No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow at quarterback, Cincinnati will be one of the most closely watched teams in the league. The earlier this game falls in the schedule, the greater the chance that it ends up in prime time.

• vs. Detroit: At first glance, this is not a sexy game. Tennessee does not have a nationwide fan base and Detroit has not won a playoff game since 1991. This one does have a storyline, though: Two head coaches with a direct connection to one another through the New England Patriots. Mike Vrabel was a Patriots linebacker from 2001 through 2008 and the last three of those seasons his position coach was current Lions boss Matt Patricia.