Titans fall to the bengals 20-16 in 2022 afc divisional round Rematch

Photo Credit: Joe Howell/Tennessee Titans

Nashville, Tennessee (PSF) — In a rematch of last year’s AFC Divisional matchup, the Tennessee Titans could not avenge their playoff defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals last year, as they fell 20-16 Sunday.

The Titans and the Bengals played a very tight game, as the game came down to the final quarter. The Bengals took the lead late in the fourth quarter on a Joe Burrow touchdown pass to Tee Higgins. In the final moments of the game, a penalty on Kevin Strong of the Titans for hitting the long snapper gave the Bengals the first down, which ultimately ended the game.

A lot of focus for Tennessee was on Ryan Tannehill in this game, because of his bad performance against the Bengals last year. History repeated itself again, as he did not do enough to help his offense to win this game. Tannehill completed 22 of his 34 passes for 291 yards and no touchdowns. Tannehill needed to do more in the passing game to free up the Titans great run offense, as Derrick Henry was virtually ineffective in the run game.

The offense was able to get into the red zone three times, but failed to score any touchdowns and only came away with two field goals. This is surprising, considering they were the second-best red zone offense in the league heading into this game. After producing their best offensive performance last week in a win against the Green Bay Packers, the Titans could not replicate that this week and must go back to the drawing board once again.

As for the Titans defense, they were able to keep the game close, but they were unable to contain Tee Higgins as he finished the game with 7 catches for 114 yards. The run defense was ineffective in this one, as they gave up a total of 108 rushing yards to the Bengals backs. Joe Burrow ran nine times for 32 yards, which was only 6 yards less than Henry’s 38 rushing yards on 17 carries. A positive the defense can takeaway from this one is this was their 8th consecutive game in which they did not allow their opponent to score more than 20 points.

The Titans move to 7-4 with the loss, and the Bengals improve to 7-4. The Titans will take on the 10-1 Eagles next Sunday.