5 Years Ago Today, the Titans shocked the world by defeating the Ravens in the Divisional Round of the Playoffs

6 days ago

It's been exactly a half decade since the Titans biggest win in close to twenty years at the time. It is one of the biggest wins in franchise history too. That 2019-20 Titans team was ridiculously fun. The run they went on felt pretty magical. They reached the final four of the NFL and had two great wins in those playoffs. As a whole, their run aged quite well.

The 2019 Titans clinched the postseason with a fresh new offensive trio nobody really saw coming in Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, and A.J. Brown. Brown was a rookie receiver and Tannehill was a newly signed veteran QB who had a respectable but by no means elite career with the Dolphins and was really initially seen as a backup to Marcus Mariota. But all of a sudden these three players were tearing up the league offensively. Rookie defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons was also huge.

The Titans made the playoffs as a sixth seed but were red hot. Here's why I believe this fun run five years ago only gets MORE fun to look back on as a fan:

In the Wild Card Round, the Titans beat a Bill Belichick/Tom Brady-led Patriots team. The Patriots are of course ya know, an epic all-time great dynasty. The Patriots were defending champs and had been to three straight Super Bowls, winning two of three. This was the last game Brady played as a Patriot. Brady would go on to win his seventh ring as a Buccaneer the next year.
January 11th, 2020, five years ago today, the Titans beat the number one seed Ravens led by the unanimous NFL MVP Lamar Jackson. The Ravens are a franchise rival in general too. So it was nice to beat them. NOBODY saw this win coming for the Titans. Jackson is well on his way to being a Hall of Famer nowadays.
The Titans lost to the Chiefs in the AFC Title Game. Mahomes now has three Super Bowls, and is arguably already the second best QB of all time.

So I mean, all in all, the Titans really made their mark on the league out of nowhere that season. It was so incredibly fun to watch.

I remember this Ravens game fairly well. Life has changed a lot in five years. Crazy. Tannehill had three total touchdowns and all were pretty impressive. Two great touchdown passes and a nifty touchdown run where he showed his underrated agility. Derrick Henry ran for an insane 195 yards and even THREW a touchdown on a trick play.

Defensively, the Titans excelled on that evening in January. They forced Lamar Jackson to commit three turnovers, two interceptions and a lost fumble. He recorded a ton of yardage but it was mostly as a result of them attempting a comeback most of the game.

The Titans won that night 28-12 and it was epic. On the doorstep to the Super Bowl. Good times.

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