Titans Fail to Keep Up with Bengals Offense, Fall in Overtime

Sometimes you need an emotional moment like Thursday to fire up a team in the NFL. 

The Tennessee Titans played their first game since the Jeffery Simmons trade on Sunday. It was devastating for players and fans alike to lose a leader like Simmons. 

The Titans went on the road to take on the Cincinnati Bengals. Being an underdog didn't faze the Titans. 

They started off hot, just like the last game with the Cleveland Browns. The Titans got the scoring started with a field goal from Joey Slye to take a 3-0 lead. 

Tennessee's defense forced a three-and-out, then Tony Pollard broke the game open. Pollard's form carried over from last week, as he had a 41-yard touchdown run. He did his best Derrick Henry impression, breaking multiple tackles on his way to the end zone. 

Pollard was a man possessed. 

Just like that, the Titans had a 10-0 lead on the road. Things continued going the Titans' way, as Joe Burrow threw an interception to Amani Hooker 

Another Slye field goal made it 13-0 Titans, but then the Bengals woke up. Cincinnati made it 13-7 after Burrow found Ja'Marr Chase on a 3rd-and-18 following a holding call, which negated a touchdown pass to Chase Brown one play before. 

Things went from bad to worse, with the Titans quickly giving the ball back to the Bengals. Cam Ward tried a quick pass to Wan'Dale Robinson, but he was met instantly by a defensive back. 

The ball came out and the Bengals recovered on their half of the field. Luckily, the Titans defense made a big stop on fourth down inside the red zone, sacking Burrow to get the ball back.  

It didn't matter, as the Titans had a three-and-out. The Bengals had a chance to take the lead just before halftime. 

Cincinnati started hitting on big plays to Tee Higgins to put themselves in position to score. The Bengals got inside the red zone again. 

This time, a late pass interference call set up a touchdown pass from Burrow to Jack Endries. 

The Titans got lucky on a Bengals penalty on the ensuing kickoff, but they weren't able to do anything with it. Tennessee blew yet another first-quarter lead and went into halftime down 14-13. 

The defense needed a big stop on the Bengals' opening drive of the second half. Hooker was there to provide again. He secured his second interception of the day after Burrow was pressured by the Titans' pass rush. 

The Titans made sure to give the ball right back. On the very next play, Ward was sacked and fumbled. 

The Bengals wasted no time capitalizing. Higgins caught a touchdown pass from Burrow just a couple plays later. 

Cincinnati led 21-13 after throwing an interception on the opening drive of the second half. 

Ward wasn't done, even after fumbling the ball away. He continued spreading the ball around. 

The Titans finally had help in the penalties department. The team got inside the Bengals' five-yard line with some help on a pass interference call. Pollard then ran it in from point-blank range. 

Tennessee still needed a two-point conversion to tie the game. On what looked like a botched play call, Ward faked the handoff to Pollard and then hit the spin move to tie things up at 21. 

We had ourselves a brand-new ball game after a rough start to the second half. 

The game was getting exciting but there was still plenty of time left. 

Injuries kept piling up for the Titans. J.C. Latham, Kevin Winston, Marcus Harris, and others continued to go down. 

This Titans defense was playing as well as they could without Simmons in the lineup, with all the injuries. Hooker was doing something that we hadn't seen in a while. 

Once again, the Titans couldn't get out of their own way on the following drive after a turnover. 

The Titans got backed up after a false start, putting the ball on their own four-yard line. Ward handed the ball off to Pollard in the end zone, and he was stuffed for a safety. 

The Bengals had the lead again and got the ball back up 23-21. Hooker's three-interception performance seemed likely to be overshadowed by the Titans' offensive mistakes. 

It had been a frustrating day for the Titans. They had 15 more minutes to go to try to pull off the upset win on the road. 

It felt like if the team could get out of their own way, they might have a sliver of a chance. 

The defense forced a fourth turnover after Alontae Taylor poked the ball out of Chase Brown's hands after a bad handoff from Burrow. 

The offense got yet another chance to take advantage of a turnover. Pollard continued to be a wrecking ball for the Titans. 

He nearly turned the ball over after the Bengals stripped the ball out. Pollard recovered the ball, and on the next play he got the Titans inside the goal line. 

For once, Pollard didn't score a touchdown. Ward continued his scoring ways in the fourth quarter, as he has all season. 

He connected with Dike in the end zone to give the Titans the lead again, 28-23. The Titans had 11:29 to go to defend their lead. 

Hooker wasn't the only one who got a hat trick. Jacob Martin got to Burrow for his third sack of the game with under 10 minutes left. 

The Bengals would end up overcoming that sack with a big first down by Chase. Then, they retook the lead with a touchdown pass to Mike Gesicki. The Bengals attempted a two-point conversion to make it a three-point game. 

Taylor deflected the pass to keep the score manageable. The Bengals lead 29-28 with 7:13 to go. In the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter, the lead had changed twice. 

It changed once more. 

The Titans continued to not give in. Ward had two passing touchdowns in a game for the first time this year after finding Wan'Dale Robinson for a score in the corner of the end zone. 

After an impressive drive late in the fourth quarter, the Titans had the lead again. Gunnar Helm was a favorite target on that drive and made sure to stay in bounds to continue running the clock down. 

Helm caught the pass on the two-point conversion. The Titans were in a situation they'd been in before. 

They led 36-29 with under three minutes to go. Could the defense get a couple more stops? 

The answer was no. Higgins scored to tie the game and the Titans had a unique opportunity to win the game at 36. 

Tennessee wasted that opportunity after getting close to midfield. On a crucial 3rd-and-3, Ward took a sack, and the Titans punted the ball away to the Bengals. 

We got extra football in Cincinnati. 

The game was going to come down to whoever could make the most mistakes in overtime. 

Burrow and the Bengals got the ball first and wasted no time. In five plays the Bengals found the end zone. 

Burrow connected with Chase and Higgins before running the ball in for himself. It was 43-36. 

Ward and the offense needed a touchdown to keep the game going. The crowd was too much. 

After calling both timeouts, the Titans found themselves with a 4th-and-3 for the game. Ward missed his pass to Elic Ayomanor, and the game was over. 

Another week in the NFL has gone by for the Titans, and this team can't win a close game. The Titans are now 1-7 and head back home to face the Jacksonville Jaguars next on Nov. 15.