Nashville, TN – The National Football League (NFL) has released the 2020 regular season schedule, and the Tennessee Titans will be featured in three primetime contests, including an appearance on Monday Night Football to open the season at Denver on September 14th.
The Titans will return to Nashville for their home opener against Jacksonville on Sunday, September 20th. The other primetime games include a Thursday Night home game against the Indianapolis Colts on November 12th and a visit to the Green Bay Packers for a Sunday Night game on December 27th.
“It is always an honor to play on Monday Night Football,” said Mike Vrabel, Titans Head Coach. “When you grow up watching football, you watch Monday Night Football. It is your last taste of football for the week.”
“Certainly, it’s a great challenge to go on the road and face Denver. It is a great way to start the season, there will be a lot of excitement and I know there will be a lot of people tuning in.” Vrabel stated.
“We need to start the season better than we did last year. We played well down the stretch last year and it is what allowed us to make the playoffs and win a couple of games, but we are going to need to start the season better so the margin for error isn’t so thin. The goal is to win the division and host home playoff games and to put ourselves in the best possible position and that will start with those games early in the season at home.”
The Titans full home schedule includes games against the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts.
Tennessee will travel to the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts.
The Titans Week 15 game against Detroit is in a pool of games that could be played on either Saturday, December 19th or Sunday, December 20th. The teams will be notified at least four weeks ahead of the weekend dates with the final day and time for the game.
Flexible scheduling may be applied in Weeks 5-16. During that period, flexible scheduling can be used by the NFL by shifting a Sunday afternoon game into primetime and moving the Sunday night game to an afternoon start time.
For Week 17, the Sunday night game will be announced no later than six days prior to December 29th. The NFL schedule does not list a Sunday night game in Week 17, but an afternoon game with playoff implications could be moved to that time slot.
Additionally, the Titans preseason opponents were set with home game against the New York Giants and Chicago Bears and away games at the Washington Redskins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dates and times will be released later this month.
With the release of the schedule, single-game tickets for all Titans home games in 2020, along with season tickets, are now available at www.tennesseetitans.com/tickets.
2020 Schedule Notes
- The Titans are scheduled for three primetime appearances – Monday, September 14th at Denver; Thursday, November 12th against Indianapolis; and Sunday, December 27th at Green Bay. The last two times they played on Monday night, Thursday night and Sunday night in the same season were 2018 and 2009.
- The Titans have five total games against playoff teams from last season: Houston (two games), Buffalo, Baltimore and Green Bay. That number is down from seven such games a year ago, and over a five-year span, it is tied for the team’s lowest number (five games in 2018).
- The Titans have a stretch of three consecutive home games (October 4th vs. Pittsburgh, October 11th vs. Buffalo and October 18th vs. Houston) for the first time since 2016.
- The Titans play three of their last four games on the road for the first time since 2015.
- The Titans play the Broncos (September 14th) and Bills (October 11th) as a result of each team’s second-place divisional finish in 2019. Every team has two intraconference games based on the previous season’s standings.
- The Titans’ strength of schedule is the 20th most difficult in the NFL based upon their opponents’ combined 2019 winning percentage of .498 (127-128-1).
- The Titans shoot for their fifth consecutive winning season in 2020 after going 9-7 each year from 2016 to 2019. In franchise history, the only one other stretch in which the club achieved at least five straight winning records was 1987 to 1993.
- With a winning record in 2020, Mike Vrabel would become the only head coach in franchise history other than Jack Pardee (1990–1993) to begin his tenure with at least three consecutive winning campaigns.
- In their last 28 home games, the Titans are 20-8. Among all NFL clubs in that time period, the Titans’ .714 home winning percentage ranks fifth.
- The AFC South was the only division in the NFL in which all four teams made at least one playoff appearance from 2017 through 2019. In that time period, the Titans were 11-7 within the division, ranking first with a .611 divisional winning percentage.
2020 Week-by-Week Notes
- Week 1: The Titans open the season at Denver on Monday night, September 14th, marking the first Week 1 Monday night game in franchise history. September 14th is the latest date for an opener in the team’s “Titans era” (1999 – present) and the latest for the franchise since 1977 (September 18th). The September 14th game at Denver also marks the franchise’s third all-time opener against the Broncos and the first since 1972.
- Week 2: For the first time since 2008, the Titans play their home opener against the division-rival Jaguars (September 20th).
- Week 3: At Minnesota (September 27th), the Titans make their first appearance at U.S. Bank Stadium, which opened in 2016.
- Week 4: Pittsburgh (October 4th) has not visited Nissan Stadium in the regular season since 2014. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is expected to return to the field for his 17th season after missing the final 14 games of 2019 due to injury.
- Week 5: Buffalo (October 11th) is the Titans’ only home opponent besides Houston coming off a postseason appearance. The Bills won at Nissan Stadium in 2019 and have won their last three matchups with the Titans by a combined total of nine points.
- Week 6: The Texans (October 18th) won the AFC South in 2019 and have won the division four times in six seasons under head coach Bill O’Brien.
- Week 7: The Titans’ Week 7 bye is their earliest since a Week 4 bye in 2015. With three consecutive home games prior to the bye, the Titans do not have a road game in October.
- Week 8: At Cincinnati (November 1st), the Titans return from their bye to face a Bengals team that could feature the No. 1 overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft, former Louisiana State quarterback Joe Burrow.
- Week 9: Chicago (November 8th) makes its third regular season appearance at Nissan Stadium. The Bears have won both prior meetings in Tennessee (2004 and 2012).
- Week 10: The Titans host the Colts on Thursday Night Football (November 12th) for the first time since 2013 and for the third time ever at Nissan Stadium.
- Week 11: At Baltimore (November 22nd), the Titans have a rematch with last season’s No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. The Titans visited Baltimore in the divisional round and defeated the Ravens by a final score of 28-12. The Ravens are led by 2019 NFL MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson.
- Week 12: The Titans travel to Indianapolis (November 29th) to face the Colts for the second time in three weeks.
- Week 13: Cleveland (December 6th) is the only team on the Titans’ 2020 schedule with a rookie head coach. Kevin Stefanski was named to the post after his first full season as the offensive coordinator of the Vikings.
- Week 14: At Jacksonville (December 13th), the Titans play their second of two yearly contests with their longest-standing division rival.
- Week 15: In their last regular season home game, the Titans host the Lions on either Saturday, December 19th, or Sunday, December 20th. The last time the Titans played on Saturday during the regular season was Week 16 of 2018, when they hosted and defeated Washington. That game likewise was originally announced as a Saturday or Sunday contest. Detroit makes its third regular season appearance at Nissan Stadium. The Titans have won both prior meetings at the venue (2004 and 2012) and five consecutive overall matchups with the Lions, dating back to 2001.
- Week 16: At Green Bay (December 27th), the Titans are scheduled for a Sunday night game against the Packers at Lambeau Field. It marks the first time since 2009 that the Titans have been slated for a Sunday night contest at the initial schedule unveiling. Their last Sunday night appearance, a Week 17 matchup with the Colts in 2018, was flexed into primetime.
- Also at Green Bay, Mike Vrabel’s squad will square off against Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, who Vrabel hired as Titans offensive coordinator in 2018. LaFleur was appointed to his current post in Green Bay during the following offseason.
- Week 17: The Titans conclude the regular season at Houston (January 3rd) for the second consecutive season.
