The Tennessee Titans’ weak 20:13 away defeat against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the final part of the penultimate weekend of the NFL regular season at a glance:

Topics of conversation

• At least it was an entertaining game. The Titans fell behind early, hung on for a while and had a chance in the final minute, pushing to the Jaguars’ 26 points before faltering after a series of incomplete passes from quarterback Mason Rudolph. His big mistake on the drive was a fall from Chig Okonkwo, who was open near the sideline for a potentially game-winning touchdown pass.

• If it wasn’t already clear that the Titans had seen enough of Will Levis, that point was reinforced on Sunday with Rudolph at quarterback for another full game. Rudolph stayed true to form, completing 19 of 31 passes for 193 yards. But he also didn’t do enough to tip the game the Titans’ way, and he had chances to do so. Meanwhile, Mac Jones threw two touchdowns for the Jaguars.

• The Titans’ defense, which couldn’t stop the Colts from running all over the place last week, allowed the Jaguars to go 8 of 13 on third down. In a dreary game in which little separated two bad teams, the difference was a 16-play touchdown drive by Jacksonville that took up half of the fourth quarter’s playing time.

• With Titans running back Tony Pollard out with an ankle injury, Tyjae Spears took on a special role on a rainy day, running for 95 hard yards on 20 carries. That was encouraging. However, Spears couldn’t stay out the entire game, leaving in the fourth quarter due to injury and making way for Julius Chestnut. That was discouraging.

• Titans receiver Calvin Ridley had a team-high 84 receiving yards in his return to Jacksonville, but was overshadowed by the Jags’ Bryan Thomas Jr., who caught seven passes for 91 yards and a touchdown.

Where the game revolved

After Nick Vannett’s touchdown catch cut the Jaguars’ lead to 13-10 in the third quarter, the Titans got a stop on defense and got the football back with rare momentum. They didn’t do anything with it, as Jags defenseman Josh Hines-Allen (remember him?) took over a series, botched a Spears run, and beat JC Latham (again) to sack Rudolph. To make matters worse, Spears was completely out of action for the 5-yard loss, which also cost him a 100-yard afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Titans had to kick the ball back to the Jags, who promptly launched a 16-yard touchdown drive to extend the lead back to 10 points and kill more than nine minutes of game time.

Key number

1 – touchdowns scored by the Titans in eight quarters this season against the Jaguars, who entered Sunday with the NFL’s worst defense statistically.

What I liked

Nobody was fighting out there, but in a 3-12 team matchup, you can’t ignore the fact that a loss on Sunday wouldn’t have been the worst thing for either side. The result immediately landed the Titans in the top three of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Which I didn’t like

Rudolph’s first-half interception that set up a Jacksonville touchdown was inexcusable for a 6-foot-5 quarterback. It was an easy check-down throw for Chestnut, and the pass was tipped near the line. What’s the point of playing it safe if you end up throwing it to the other team anyway?

Reach Tennessee sports columnist Gentry Estes at [email protected] and on the X Platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans suffer valuable loss to Jacksonville Jaguars