The 2016 season was the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their hom ...

franchise's 47th in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and their 57th overall. It also marked the franchise's 20th season in the state of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

as well as the first full season under

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Mike Mularkey Michael Rene Mularkey (born November 19, 1961) is a former American football coach and tight end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Florida, and was drafted in the ninth round of the 1983 NF ...

, who served as the team's interim head coach for the last nine games of the 2015 season. The Titans tripled their win total from 2015 and achieved their first winning season since 2011. However, the team missed the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season tying a record set between 1970–1977 — the Titans finished tied with the Houston Texans for the

AFC South The American Football Conference – Southern Division or AFC South is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It was created before the 2002 season when the league realigned d ...

division title, but lost the tiebreaker because the Texans had a better division record (5-1) than the Titans (2-4) did.

Draft

Notes * The Titans acquired an additional sixth-round selection in a trade that sent

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

Andy Levitre Andrew Steven Levitre ( ; born May 15, 1986) is a former American football offensive guard. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the second round, 51st overall in the 2009 NFL Draft, and has also played for the Tennessee Titans and Atlanta F ...

and a future conditional selection to the Atlanta Falcons. * The Titans traded a conditional seventh-round selection to the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

in exchange for

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

Terrance West Terrance West (born January 28, 1991) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Towson and was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 2014 NFL Draft. West has also played for the Tennessee Ti ...

Staff

Final roster

Team captains

Marcus Mariota Marcus Ardel Taulauniu Mariota (born October 30, 1993) is an American football quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted second overall by the Tennessee Titans in the 2015 NFL Draft. Mariota pl ...

(QB) *

Delanie Walker Hubert Delanie Walker (born August 12, 1984) is a former American football tight end. He played college football at the Central Missouri State and was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. After seven sea ...

(TE) *

Jurrell Casey Jurrell Juel Casey (born December 5, 1989) is a former American football defensive lineman. He played college football at USC, and was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the third round of the 2011 NFL Draft. In nine seasons with the Titan ...

(DE) *

Brian Orakpo Brian Ndubisi Orakpo (born July 31, 1986) is a former American football outside linebacker who played 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Texas, was recognized as a unanimous All ...

(LB) * Wesley Woodyard (LB) * Daimion Stafford (ST)

Schedule

Preseason

Regular season

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Minnesota Vikings

Week 2: at Detroit Lions

Week 3: vs. Oakland Raiders

Week 4: at Houston Texans

Week 5: at Miami Dolphins

Week 6: vs. Cleveland Browns

The Titans posted their first victory over their former

AFC Central The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was adopted after the restructuring of the 2002 NFL ...

rival since 2011 and only their third win over the Browns since 2002 league realignment established the

threw three touchdowns but Cody Kessler kept the Browns in the hunt with two touchdown drives in the final three minutes.

Week 7: vs. Indianapolis Colts

Taylor Lewan Taylor Curtis Lewan (born July 22, 1991) is an American football tackle for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Michigan, where he twice received first-team All-American honors, and was sel ...

caught his first career touchdown.

Week 8: vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

With the win, the Titans improved on their 3–13 season from the previous year.

Week 9: at San Diego Chargers

Week 10: vs. Green Bay Packers

The Titans defeated the Packers for the fourth time in six meetings since becoming a Tennessee NFL franchise. The Titans raced to a 21–0 lead in the first quarter and led 35–16 at halftime. Rookie

Tajae Sharpe Tajaé Lamar Sharpe (born December 23, 1994) is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent. He played college football at Massachusetts and was drafted in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans. Early years S ...

caught his first career touchdown.

Week 11: at Indianapolis Colts

Week 12: at Chicago Bears

The Titans posted their sixth win of the season as

faced off against

Matt Barkley Matthew Montgomery Barkley (born September 8, 1990) is an American football quarterback for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at USC, and was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth roun ...

, in his first NFL action since 2014; he opened scoring late in the first quarter on a seven-yard toss. Mariota answered with three straight touchdown drives, but Barkley answered a Titans lead of 27–7 with two straight touchdown drives and whipped to the Titans red zone in the final minute, but two incompletions ended the game.

Week 14: vs. Denver Broncos

The Titans posted only their second win (in six tries) over the Broncos since becoming a Tennessee NFL franchise. They led 13–0 but had to sweat out a Broncos rally; A.J. Derby's fumble was recovered by Daimion Stafford with 1:04 to go. The game became chippy when

Harry Douglas Harry Douglas IV (born September 16, 1984) is a former American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. He played college football at Louisville. Douglas was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in ...

cut block Chris Harris, Jr. in the second quarter;

Aqib Talib Aqib Talib (born February 13, 1986) is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at the University of Kansas, where he received consensus All-American honors, and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first ro ...

attacked Douglas and a melee erupted on the Titans sideline. The victory was the 425th in the franchise's history.

Week 15: at Kansas City Chiefs

The Titans edged the Chiefs on a 53-yard field goal on the final play by former Chiefs placekicker

Ryan Succop Ryan Barrow Succop ( "suck-up"; born September 19, 1986) is an American football placekicker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). Succop played college football at South Carolina and was the 2009 Mr. Irrelevant by ...

; he missed a first attempt but the attempt was nullified when Chiefs coach

Andy Reid Andrew Walter Reid (born March 19, 1958) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Reid was previously head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999 to 2012. From 200 ...

called timeout.

Week 16: at Jacksonville Jaguars

's season ended when he suffered a broken right fibula in Tennessee's 38–17 loss to the Jaguars; the loss marked the eighth straight season in which neither team managed to sweep the other in the regular season.Titans vs. Jaguars all-time matchups
from

Pro Football Reference Pro-Football-Reference.com is a website providing a variety of statistics for American football. It is one of the few sites that provides information on both active and retired players. The site provides statistics for teams dating back to 1920. ...

The loss—combined with Houston's subsequent win over Cincinnati—ended Tennessee's hopes for the playoffs.

Week 17: vs. Houston Texans

The win was the Titans' first against the Texans since 2013. NOTE: With the win, the Titans posted 9 wins and a winning season for the first time since 2011.