The Titans know the biggest problem keeping them from winning games, but they haven't figured out how to solve it

The Tennessee Titans have a finishing problem.

Sitting at 1-4, The Titans have plenty of issues they must address. And at least as far as winning ball games goes, perhaps chief amongst them is how poorly they're performing in the 4th quarter. Take a look at this charting from before their Week 6 loss to the Colts, and compare them to the other teams in the league:

When you update these numbers to include Week 6, it gets worse: +4, +10, +14, -21 .

The Titans have been out-scored in the 4th quarter 33-12. Twelve whole points in the most important frame of the game combined on the season. There were 5 teams who scored more than 12 points in the 4th quarter in Week 6 alone.

Another way of visualizing this fundamental failure to close is with win probability charts. Here are three from their biggest collapses of the season: At Chicago, vs New York, and vs Indianapolis:

They turn into a pumpkin when the clock hits 45. In the final 15 minutes of the game, this Titans team gets outclassed consistently. As head coach Brian Callahan continues to rightly point out, they've been putting themselves in position to win!

"It's whatever it takes to give us a chance to win the game." Callahan said to reporters on Monday. "And I think, again, we've—outside of the Green Bay game—we've been in those spots. We've been in position to win a game, and we haven't found a way to do that yet."

For what it's worth, their 4th quarter problem isn't unknown to the Titans themselves. They just haven't found a way to fix it yet. Callahan acknowledged the issue in his presser:

"We've got to find a way to finish in the fourth quarter. That's sort of been our issue over the course of the season so far in these tight games is we haven't done enough on offense to go win a game and you got to score more than 17 points."

4th quarter woes with Will Levis aren't confined to just the 2024 season. Using Vegas as a benchmark for expectations, Levis is 2-12 (14%) against the 2nd half spread in his NFL career, which is dead last amongst all qualifying QBs the past 20 years.

If you don't finish the game strong, you probably lose the game. It's as simple as that in the NFL. And so far, Brian Callahan's Titans are taking it to the rim weak nearly every week.

Related: DeAndre Hopkins reacts to blatant missed pass interference call in Colts-Titans Week 6 loss