The Tennessee Titans didn’t play well on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints. Far from it, in fact. But late in the fourth quarter, Mike Vrabel’s team had a chance of pulling off a stunning comeback win on the road.
There’s just one problem: Vrabel was far too obsessed with playing the percentages rather than trusting his offense to win the game in the final few moments. Just before the two-minute warning, the Titans found themselves with a fourth-and-6 on the Saints’ 11-yard line while down 16-12.
Instead of hoping Ryan Tannehill could complete a pass and maybe even get a dagger touchdown, Vrabel settled for a Nick Folk field goal, trusting his defense way too much. Tennessee would not get the ball back, and it fell to 0-1 on the season after a 16-15 loss. But hey, at least Folk kicked five field goals or something. Right? (Oof.)
Titans kick on 4th-and-6 with 2:20 left at Saints 11.
WP Go: 33.0%
WP Kick: 23.7%A massive, massive error according to our model.
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) September 10, 2023
Naturally, NFL fans took Vrabel to task for trusting his kicker and defense more than his offense when he had a legitimate chance to win the game first.