Why Tennessee Titans, Not Green Bay Packers, Suffered Worst Week 15 Loss

Week 15 of the 2011 season brought with it a pair of very surprising results, as both the NFL's last unbeaten team fell when the Kansas City Chiefs downed the Green Bay Packers and the league's last winless team got a victory when the Indianapolis Colts shocked the Tennessee Titans.

Green Bay's loss was a painful one, as it spoiled the Packer Pursuit of Perfection (Patent Pending), but for sheer gut-punch value, you just can't beat getting smoked by two touchdowns by a team that entered today's action with a sterling record of 0-13.

The Titans came into today's at 7-6 and still holding out hopes of making a run at the playoffs in the AFC, but whether they got caught looking ahead or just aren't that good a football team, the Titans can almost certainly kiss their postseason aspirations goodbye after today's stinker in Indianapolis.

Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck threw one fewer touchdown pass and two more interceptions (one of which was returned for a score) than Colts signal-caller Dan Orlovsky, Indianapolis running back Donald Brown rolled for 161 yards (including a back-breaking 80-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter), and the Titans defense failed to record a sack against a Colts offensive line that has struggled mightily in pass protection this year.

So it's not as if there are any shortage of reasons why the Titans lost the game, although it still doesn't explain why those things all occurred, given how lousy the Colts have looked most of the season.

They say that the easiest explanation is usually the correct one, although if that is indeed the case it will be of little comfort to Titans fans, as the easiest explanation is that the Titans are a mediocre football team, and that sort of 7-9 squad can be supremely frustrating for its supporters, as they're not good enough to make noise in the playoffs and not bad enough to wrangle a high draft choice.