From the heartbreak of the "one yard short" finish to the dominant Smash and Dash era, relive the powerhouse rosters that defined Nashville football but fell short.
As we all know, the Tennessee Titans have never won a Super Bowl.
Once the team moved to Nashville and changed its name to the Tennessee Titans, it didn't take long for them to start competing for them, however.
The Titans went to the Super Bowl in the 1999 season, where they faced the St. Louis Rams. Tennessee lost 23-16 after being just one yard short of tying the game, potentially forcing overtime.
Part of the reason for that early success was former General Manager Floyd Reese, who had an impressive hit rate with the players he drafted and signed in free agency.
On Sunday, I saw an article from PFF detailing some of the best NFL teams over the last 20 years that never won a Super Bowl. It got me thinking about the best Titans teams to never win one, and I decided to list the favorites.
So, here are my picks for the Titans teams since 1999 that never won a Super Bowl, in no particular order:
2008 Titans, 13-3
It was disappointing that this team didn't make a run to the Super Bowl.
This was the beginning of the "Smash and Dash" era in Nashville, with LenDale White and Chris Johnson. Johnson had an incredible rookie year, going for 1,228 rushing yards and nine touchdowns.
White was no slouch either. He finished with 773 rushing yards and a whopping 15 touchdowns.
What really derailed this team was the injury to quarterback Vince Young at the beginning of the season. Young got hurt in the season opener and was only supposed to miss a few weeks with a knee injury.
Then, there was the off-the-field issue with Young, and Jeff Fisher stuck with backup Kerry Collins for the rest of the season. The Titans faced the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card and lost 13-10.
The Ravens kept Johnson and White in check, and Collins, while he was a solid backup, wasn't good enough to carry the team to a win.
2002 Titans, 11-5
This team nearly went back to the Super Bowl.
The Titans team looked very similar to the one that went to the Super Bowl in 2000. Steve McNair, Eddie George, Kevin Dyson, Frank Wycheck and Derrick Mason were still around.
McNair nearly won the MVP after throwing for 3,387 passing yards, 22 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He also had 440 rushing yards, which was second on the team that season.
The Titans met the Oakland Raiders in the AFC Championship Game and lost 41-24. The Raiders went on to lose to Jon Gruden and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl 48-21.
2019 Titans, 9-7
It was hard to pick from the teams that Mike Vrabel had in the playoffs, but this team really came out of nowhere.
In Vrabel's second season, he took the Titans all the way to the AFC Championship Game. This was Ryan Tannehill's first season with the Titans, where he won the Comeback Player of the Year after taking over for Marcus Mariota halfway through the season.
Derrick Henry made his first Pro Bowl, and this team had a lot of underrated players like Adam Humphries and Jonnu Smith. This really felt like the Titans' first real chance in years to reach the Super Bowl.
The Titans were up 10-0 on the Kansas City Chiefs in the first quarter and then took a 17-7 lead in the second quarter.
The Chiefs battled back to retake the lead 21-17 at halftime. Then they put the game out of reach with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
2021 Titans, 12-5
Not many people expected the 2019 team to make it as far as they did, but the 2021 team had much higher hopes.
The Titans clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC after the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Chiefs in the second-to-last game of the regular season. The Titans would then face the Bengals in the Divisional Round.
This was the infamous game where it all started to fall apart for Tannehill.
He threw an interception on the first play of the game and then threw two more in the second half. His final interception was with 20 seconds left and gave the Bengals an extra possession, which they used to set up Evan McPherson for the game-winning field goal.
This one hurt because the Titans had all the expectations in the world that season.


