NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- At 0-4, the Tennessee Titans are one of three winless teams remaining in the NFL, but the Titans find themselves in a deeper hole. They are at the bottom of the league with a minus-69 point differential and are on a path to contend for the No. 1 pick once again.
Given the way that ownership has fired a significant figure in each of the past three seasons, Tennessee's coaching staff knows its chances of remaining intact decrease with every loss.
Ahead of Week 4, coach Brian Callahan turned playcalling duties over to quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree in an attempt to breathe some new life into the offense while he focuses on all facets of the team. However, the first game didn't go as planned, with the Titans falling 26-0 to the Houston Texans last Sunday.
But Callahan is still keeping hope alive, and he seemed to have a second wind during his press conference Monday when asked if he feels hopeless after the frustrating start.
"I don't feel hopeless, and I don't sense that from anybody that works in our building," Callahan said. "We're in a rough stretch, 0-4, and that doesn't feel good. But there's an excitement about trying to climb out of it. Real competitors relish that challenge. And I think we got a bunch of competitors on our team, on our coaching staff and in our building that are going to fight like crazy to turn this thing, man."
Callahan went on to explain how the struggles the Titans are going through are not "a foreign place" because he was part of a Cincinnati Bengals team that won six games in two seasons. The Bengals would go on to win consecutive AFC North titles after the stretch, advancing to two AFC Championship Games and Super Bowl LVI. Callahan called the turnaround remarkable and said he's going to draw from that experience.
There's a belief in the building that this team is close despite being stuck in the longest losing streak in the NFL -- a 10-game stretch that dates to Week 13 of last season. Titans right guard Kevin Zeitler said he sees reason for hope when watching the film. Zeitler said the Titans are just an inch away from seeing good things happen on the field.
"I've been on some rougher teams," Zeitler said. "I keep telling 'em, good things happen to those who keep going -- and right now, it's on us. We got to keep going."
Titans quarterback Cam Ward shares the belief that things will get better despite personally getting off to a rough start. Ward's four straight games with a total QBR less than 40 is the longest streak by a Titans QB since the metric was first tracked in 2006 (min. 20 action plays). In the total QBR era, Ward's 23 total QBR through four starts is the second worst -- ahead of DeShone Kizer (18) in 2017 with the Cleveland Browns -- among the 31 rookies to start Weeks 1-4.
Ward isn't letting the hard times ruin his spirit. He continues to keep showing up ready for work with a positive mindset.
"Knowing the work that I put in, and my teammates put in every week, it's more just executing and remembering that it's always going to get better at the end of day," Ward said Wednesday. "It's about us minimizing it, and we've got to learn from it fast so this week we can try to improve."
The defense has done a solid job keeping the games close for the first three quarters. Outside of Tennessee's 41-20 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3, the Titans were behind by six points or less entering the fourth quarter. But that's were things start to collapse, especially when they gave up 20 points to Houston last week.
"Defense played a pretty solid game the first three quarters," Titans linebacker Cedric Gray said. "Then all hell broke loose in the fourth quarter, which unfortunately has kind of been the theme for us defensively this year. We've got to find a way to come together and figure it out later in these games, late third quarters, fourth quarters."
The turn for the worse typically comes after a backbreaking play opens the floodgates. Take last week's game for example. The Texans led Tennessee 6-0 with 4:06 left in the third quarter. Back-to-back penalties made it first-and-30 for the Texans.
The momentum appeared to be swinging back into the Titans' favor when defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons tackled Woody Marks for a three-yard loss. Facing second-and-33 from the Houston 18-yard line, quarterback C.J. Stroud found receiver Nico Collins for a 37-yard gain and a first down.
Titans defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson had Tennessee in a Cover 4 defense where the back four defenders each have deep responsibilities for their quarter of the field, But, according to Wilson, two mistakes happened on the play. Cornerback L'Jarius Sneed was supposed to have outside leverage, and safety Quandre Diggs came off his post at the hash mark.
Houston would go on to score the first of its three fourth-quarter touchdowns on the drive.
Tennessee is working to iron out the kinks to right the ship and is hoping to get a much-needed win Sunday (4:05 p.m. ET, CBS) at State Farm Stadium when it faces the Arizona Cardinals (2-2).
"[Getting a win would be] huge just knowing what it feels like," guard Peter Skoronski said. "Giving that little confidence boost to go forward. Putting one in the win column would be big."