Titans bounce back from first loss to feast on Lions

Off of their first loss of the season—and arguably their worst performance of the year—the Tennessee Titans found themselves in the right place at the right time to regain their confidence and get their anemic rushing game back on track.  All it took was a Thanksgiving Day trip to Detroit and a 47-10 rout of the woeful Lions to get the team headed in the right direction.  As for Detroit, their nightmare season continued as the team dropped to 0-12 for only the second time in franchise history.

After being held to 45 yards rushing against the Jets last week, the Titans’ running backs ran wild for 292 yards against their hapless hosts with Chris Johnson racking up 125 yards and LenDale White adding 106.  The 47 points scored by Tennessee was the most in a single game since they scored 48 against Green Bay in 2004.  Kerry Collins had another efficient, mistake free game with 127 yards on 11/18 passing with no interceptions.  Even Vince Young got into the act, playing for the first time since opening week.  Young threw one pass—a 54 yard completion. 

While Tennessee did everything right, they were helped along the way by a typically pitiful performance by Detroit.  The Lions managed only six first downs, 154 total yards and were 0-11 on third down conversions.  They turned the ball over three times and were clobbered in the time of possession battle, with the Titans controlling the ball for 36:54 to Detroit’s 23:06.  It’s hard to decide which was uglier—the Lions 23 yards rushing or 131 yards passing.  In any case, they played just like you’d expect a winless team to play.

Jeff Fisher seemed pleased with the team’s de facto scrimmage in his post game comments:

"It's nice to be able to do what you set out to do. Both backs got a lot of yards on their own, but they got a lot of help up front."

LenDale White even threw in a fighting metaphor to sum up the one sided affair:

"We hit the first punch and they fell."

Detroit desperately needs a win to prevent becoming the worst single season team in NFL history.  Only the 1976 Tampa Bay Bucs have made it through a season without a victory, but with the season then 14 games long they were “only” 0-14.  The Lions face the dubious distinction of being the first 0-16 in NFL history unless they can muster a victory in their final three games.  The schedule isn’t particularly cooperative, with a road game at Indianapolis, a home game against New Orleans, and a game against the Packers in Green Bay to conclude the season.

Tennessee will host Cleveland on Sunday, December 7th before traveling to Houston on the following Sunday.  They’ll return home to play the Pittsburgh Steelers on 12/21 before concluding the regular season the following Sunday at Indianapolis.