The 2016 season was the Tennessee Titans' 47th in the National Football League (NFL) and their 57th overall. It also marked the franchise's 20th season in the state of Tennessee as well as the first full season under head coach Mike Mularkey, who served as the team's interim head coach for the last nine games of the 2015 season.
The Titans tripled their win total from 2015 and achieved their first winning season since 2011. However, the team missed the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season tying a record set between 1970–1977. The team finished tied with the Houston Texans for the AFC South division title but lost the tiebreaker because the Texans had a better division record (5–1) than the Titans (2–4).
Draft
2016 Tennessee Titans Draft Round Selection Player Position College 1 8 Jack Conklin OT Michigan State 2 33 Kevin Dodd DE Clemson 43 Austin Johnson DT Penn State 45 Derrick Henry RB Alabama 3 64 Kevin Byard S MTSU 5 140 Tajae Sharpe WR UMass 157 LeShaun Sims CB Southern Utah 6 193 Sebastian Tretola OG Arkansas 7 222 Aaron Wallace OLB UCLA 253 Kalan Reed CB Southern Miss Notes The Titans acquired an additional sixth-round selection in a trade that sent guard Andy Levitre and a future conditional selection to the Atlanta Falcons. The Titans traded a conditional seventh-round selection to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for running back Terrance West.
Staff
Final roster
Team captains Marcus Mariota (QB) Delanie Walker (TE) Jurrell Casey (DE) Brian Orakpo (LB) Wesley Woodyard (LB) Daimion Stafford (ST)
Schedule
Preseason Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap 1 San Diego Chargers W 27–10 1–0 Nissan Stadium Recap 2 Carolina Panthers L 16–26 1–1 Nissan Stadium Recap 3 at Oakland Raiders W 27–14 2–1 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Recap 4 at Miami Dolphins W 21–10 3–1 Hard Rock Stadium Recap
Regular season Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap 1 September 11 Minnesota Vikings L 16–25 0–1 Nissan Stadium Recap 2 September 18 at Detroit Lions W 16–15 1–1 Ford Field Recap 3 September 25 Oakland Raiders L 10–17 1–2 Nissan Stadium Recap 4 October 2 at Houston Texans L 20–27 1–3 NRG Stadium Recap 5 October 9 at Miami Dolphins W 30–17 2–3 Hard Rock Stadium Recap 6 October 16 Cleveland Browns W 28–26 3–3 Nissan Stadium Recap 7 October 23 Indianapolis Colts L 26–34 3–4 Nissan Stadium Recap 8 Jacksonville Jaguars W 36–22 4–4 Nissan Stadium Recap 9 November 6 at San Diego Chargers L 35–43 4–5 Qualcomm Stadium Recap 10 November 13 Green Bay Packers W 47–25 5–5 Nissan Stadium Recap 11 November 20 at Indianapolis Colts L 17–24 5–6 Lucas Oil Stadium Recap 12 November 27 at Chicago Bears W 27–21 6–6 Soldier Field Recap 13Bye 14 December 11 Denver Broncos W 13–10 7–6 Nissan Stadium Recap 15 December 18 at Kansas City Chiefs W 19–17 8–6 Arrowhead Stadium Recap 16 at Jacksonville Jaguars L 17–38 8–7 EverBank Field Recap 17 January 1 Houston Texans W 24–17 9–7 Nissan Stadium Recap Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries
Week 1: vs. Minnesota Vikings
Week 2: at Detroit Lions
Week 3: vs. Oakland Raiders
Week 4: at Houston Texans
Week 5: at Miami Dolphins
Week 6: vs. Cleveland Browns
The Titans posted their first victory over their former AFC Central rival since 2011 and only their third win over the Browns since 2002 league realignment established the AFC South. Marcus Mariota threw three touchdowns but Cody Kessler kept the Browns in the hunt with two touchdown drives in the final three minutes.
Week 7: vs. Indianapolis Colts
Taylor Lewan caught his first career touchdown.
Week 8: vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
With the win, the Titans improved on their 3–13 season from the previous year.
Week 9: at San Diego Chargers
Week 10: vs. Green Bay Packers
The Titans defeated the Packers for the fourth time in six meetings since becoming a Tennessee NFL franchise. The Titans raced to a 21–0 lead in the first quarter and led 35–16 at halftime. Rookie Tajae Sharpe caught his first career touchdown.
Week 11: at Indianapolis Colts
Week 12: at Chicago Bears
The Titans posted their sixth win of the season as Marcus Mariota faced off against Matt Barkley, in his first NFL action since 2014; he opened scoring late in the first quarter on a seven-yard toss. Mariota answered with three straight touchdown drives, but Barkley answered a Titans lead of 27–7 with two straight touchdown drives and whipped to the Titans red zone in the final minute, but two incompletions ended the game.
Week 14: vs. Denver Broncos
The Titans posted only their second win (in six tries) over the Broncos since becoming a Tennessee NFL franchise. They led 13–0 but had to sweat out a Broncos rally; A.J. Derby's fumble was recovered by Daimion Stafford with 1:04 to go. The game became chippy when Harry Douglas cut block Chris Harris, Jr. in the second quarter; Aqib Talib attacked Douglas and a melee erupted on the Titans sideline.
The victory was the 425th in the franchise's history.
Week 15: at Kansas City Chiefs
The Titans edged the Chiefs on a 53-yard field goal on the final play by former Chiefs placekicker Ryan Succop; he missed a first attempt but the attempt was nullified when Chiefs coach Andy Reid called timeout.
Week 16: at Jacksonville Jaguars
Marcus Mariota's season ended when he suffered a broken right fibula in Tennessee's 38–17 loss to the Jaguars; the loss marked the eighth straight season in which neither team managed to sweep the other in the regular season.Titans vs. Jaguars all-time matchups from Pro Football Reference The loss—combined with Houston's subsequent win over Cincinnati—ended Tennessee's hopes for the playoffs.
Week 17: vs. Houston Texans
The win was the Titans' first against the Texans since 2013.
NOTE: With the win, the Titans posted 9 wins and a winning season for the first time since 2011.
Standings
Division
Conference
References
External links