For most fans with 12 options to turn to on a busy Sunday, a match featuring division doormats appeared to hold much appeal. Under the circumstances, it was arguably among the least favorable. Certainly, it didn’t help that the Chargers and the Titans sported a mere two wins through Week Seven, and, having lost four of their last five outings, evidently without momentum on which to bank their progress. Yet, those looking for gems in the rough and willing to gamble four hours of their time following, if nothing else, opponents on equal footing wound up cashing in. Big.
To be sure, the set-to started slow and progressed with more of a defensive bent. That said, it finished with a bang, and not least because three game-deciding goal-line efforts by the Chargers were marked by significant video reviews. That there were calls on every play proved remarkable. That every single one of the calls were overturned underscored the complexities of the sport and the inability of officials to keep up with the action in real time. In the end, the Titans prevailed by three, to the delight of the 62,431-strong crowd at Nissan Stadium.
Relief was etched in the face of Titans head coach Mike Vrabel in the aftermath, and with reason. Heading into yesterday’s tiff, he had decided to tap Ryan Tannehill instead of erstwhile starter Marcus Mariota, consolidating a change he called for early in the second half of their immediate past loss to the otherwise-hapless Broncos. He was looking for a spark, any spark, and he thought the backup could provide it. As things turned out, he was right, but not without help from the gridiron gods, and not without the trio of close calls that went his way.
For the Chargers, the unfavorable outcome extended their streak of setbacks to three. And while they weren’t entirely wrong to lament the turns of events that had supposed touchdowns negated, they would do well to move on, and fast. There may be no silver lining in the midst of a heartbreaker; as head coach Anthony Lynn contended, “you don’t get one yard, you don’t deserve to win the damn game, and that’s the way it is.” Still, they would be fools to underestimate the value of getting close. Save for their futile attempts to score at the one-yard line, they did just about everything else right in the last quarter. And, moving forward, it’s what they would do well to remember.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
