The Titans hung with the Patriots into the third quarter of Sunday’s game, but New England scored the final 20 points to turn a close game into a 36-13 win that pushed them past the Titans in the AFC playoff picture.
It’s the second straight loss for a Titans team that had opened the year with an 8-2 record and made a pair of turnovers that helped fuel the breakdown on Sunday. The team was coming off another sloppy loss to the Texans and they’re missing a lot of key pieces due to injuries, which led to a postgame question for head coach Mike Vrabel about how much the team needs their upcoming bye week.
“I guess that’s where we’re at,” Vrabel said. “We’ve got a bye. We’ve got to get healthy mentally and physically. And get back to playing football how we know how to play it, taking care of the football, playing complementary, knowing the details. A lot of things to improve.”
Vrabel was asked to elaborate on what it meant to get healthy and he said it is “a good time for us all to reset and focus on this football team.” They’ll get a chance to show the results of that effort against the Jaguars in Week 14.
