The Titans fall behind badly early and cannot come back from the 42:19 defeat against Commanders

LANDOVER, Md – The Titans dug themselves a big hole here on Sunday.

They couldn’t climb out.

The team’s disheartening 42-19 loss to the Commanders included a disastrous start and a brief comeback that would ultimately fizzle out.

This also included a lot of bad football.

“Overall, nothing was good enough today,” coach Brian Callahan said. “It was hard to watch at the start of the game. …Just too many negative things. We have to do a lot of things better if we want to beat good teams away from home and this wasn’t it.”

The Titans fell to 3-9 this season.

The loss came a week after a win in Houston that many believed could build momentum.

“It’s devastating, to be honest,” Callahan said. “I didn’t think we would look like this today. I’m disappointed about that. I’m disappointed in myself. I thought we were making some progress and would play really well against a good football team on the road again, and we didn’t.

Fumbles, penalties and overall poor play on both sides contributed to the Titans’ poor start.

The Titans tried to make it a fight in the second half, but they couldn’t do enough.

On a day where the offense struggled to reach the end zone, the defense couldn’t get any stops.

“We were hungover from our success last week and it showed in the first half,” defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons said. “The signs of this started in the first half. We saw that. We were flat, we turned the ball over, we couldn’t stop anything they did. From top to bottom we had no answers.”

“Ultimately, we have to be able to handle success.”

Titans quarterback Will Levis connected with receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine for two touchdown passes in the contest, but there were few highlights for Tennessee on the day.

Levis completed 18 of 37 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns in the contest.

Defensively, the Titans allowed the Commanders to gain 463 yards of offense and 29 first downs. The Commanders ran for 267 yards, including 103 from running back Brian Robinson.

The Titans turned the ball over twice and were penalized 12 times for 93 yards.

“We just have to keep going, that’s all we can do,” Levis said. “We just keep finding new ways to shoot ourselves in the foot. It’s hard to come back from a start like that and expect things to continue.”

It was really ugly early on, with the Commanders holding a 21-0 lead over the Titans after a quarter of play.

After a three-and-out on their first possession that featured two false starts, the Commanders quickly scored on their first possession as Robinson sprinted for a 40-yard touchdown to make it 7 just 3:02 into the first quarter . Hits scored -0.

After another three-and-out from the Titans offense, the Commanders stormed into the lead with a three-yard touchdown run from quarterback Jayden Daniels, who ended up throwing for 206 yards and three touchdowns in the game.

After a fumble by Titans running back Tony Pollard, the Commanders made it 21-0 with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Daniels to receiver Terry McLaurin.

Titans returner Jha’Quan Jackson then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and the Commanders recovered it, capping it off at 10:59 of the second quarter with another touchdown pass from Daniels to McLaurin, this time from four yards out Scored 28:0.

The Titans got on the field 23 seconds before halftime with a 27-yard touchdown pass from Levis to Westbrook-Ikhine, capping a nine-play, 64-yard drive to make the score 28-7 at halftime.

The Titans tried to rally in the third quarter, but a few missed opportunities in the red zone negated the effort as the team settled for field goals instead of touchdowns.

A 41-yard field goal by kicker Nick Folk cut the lead to 28-10 with 8:41 left in the third quarter.

The Titans then got a little closer with a 44-yard field goal from Folk, making the score 28-13 with 3:40 left in the third quarter.

But the Commanders took a 35-13 lead with 14:15 left on a four-yard touchdown pass from Daniels to tight end Zach Ertz.

Levis’ second touchdown pass to Westbrook-Ikhine, this one from 17 yards out with 7:07 left in the game, made it 35-19 before Commanders running back Chris Rodriguez completed a seven-yard touchdown with 3:31 left 42-19.

And in the end, the mistakes from earlier in the game proved too much to bear.

“I feel like we knew the formula,” Westbrook-Ikhine said. “We just didn’t start fast enough. We started way too late. … This is not what we expected, but we still have a lot to do, a lot of division games to go. It sucks to get beat.” “We started way too late and that’s not a testament to who we are as a team.”

The Titans return to action next Sunday against the Jaguars at Nissan Stadium.