The pressure on Des Hasler is reaching bursting point after the veteran coach's Gold Coast side was edged by the Cowboys 30-24 on a miserable afternoon at the Titans' Cbus Super Stadium.
Hasler's men have secured just four wins so far this season and their 11th loss leaves them anchored to the bottom of the NRL ladder, with their coach's storied career on the ropes.
The 64-year-old Hasler has coached 497 NRL games and won a pair of premierships at Manly, but the cold hard facts are he now owns a 12-27 record in one-and-a-half seasons with the Titans.
Gold Coast have the bye next week and it would not be the greatest of surprises to see Hasler relieved of his duties prior to their next match against Brisbane on July 13.
After Sunday's game, Titans' captain Tino Fa'asuamaleaui said while things were not going well, he backed Hasler and still believed the club could make the finals.
"Obviously, it's a tough time here at the club and we're all feeling it," Fa'asuamaleaui said.
"Definitely, we've still got enough time (to make the finals). We've just got to stick together and regroup and make sure that we're coming up the ladder, off the bye and really start turning the season around because if anyone in the comp can do it, we can do it, and we have the team to do it.
"I believe in every single one of them. I believe in the coaching staff, and like I said, we've just got to stick together."
While the blowtorch on Hasler has intensified, it was a pressure-relieving win for Cowboys coach Todd Payten, though the quality of the performance will hardly put fear into the competition's leading teams.
The Titans and Cowboys entered the match as the NRL's two worst defensive teams, but both proved equally inept in attack, combining for 23 errors in the greasy conditions.
North Queensland scored twice in the opening 17 minutes via tries to Zac Laybutt and Murray Taulagi, before Beau Fermor pulled one back for the Titans to make it 12-6 at the break.
It was a scrappy first 40 minutes with both teams combining for 13 errors and averaging less than 33 metres gained per set.
Tom Dearden burst through a poor attempted tackle to set up Scott Drinkwater five minutes into the second half and the Cowboys had another try via Jeremiah Nanai four minutes later.
Tries to AJ Brimson and Jojo Fifita pulled the Titans back in the game but when Reece Robson put Drinkwater over with eight minutes left, the Titans' comeback was on ice.
Phillip Sami scored a consolation try for Gold Coast with four minutes left, but time was not on their side.
Payten said the win relieved some pressure and revealed the Cowboys had not watched any video of the Titans leading into the clash, preferring to focus on themselves after conceding 138 points in their past three games.
"We stripped things right back this week and just focused on us," he said.
"We didn't show any vision on Titans, which is not a common thing.
"The review off the back of last week was just around our effort or some good stuff, and there's a lot of questionable stuff. We stripped it right back to just finding teammates."
North Queensland's Origin incumbents Reece Robson, Reuben Cotter, Tom Deardon and Jeremiah Nanai appeared to come through the match unscathed.
Titans duo Fa'asuamaleaui and Moeaki Fotuaika should be available for Queensland in Origin III on July 9.
The Cowboys' Maroons hopeful, Taulagi, looked to injure his knee midway through the second half but played on.