Mike Vrabel’s cowardly decision to kick a late FG cost the Titans their comeback attempt

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.