Record 13–3 Pro Bowlers 7 Start date 2000 | Division place 1st AFC Central Head coach Jeff Fisher Home field Nissan Stadium | |
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Playoff finish Lost Divisional Playoffs (Ravens) 24–10 Similar 1999 Tennessee Titans se, 2008 Tennessee Titans se, 2000 Balti Ravens s, 1999 NFL season | ||
The 2000 Tennessee Titans season was the franchise's 41st season and their 31st in the National Football League. It was the team's second being known as the "Titans." The team entered the season as the defending AFC Champions, having narrowly lost Super Bowl XXXIV to the St. Louis Rams.
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Tennessee's 13–3 record was the best in the NFL in 2000, and earned the Titans a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. In the Titans' first playoff game, however, they were upset by their division rivals, the fourth-seeded Baltimore Ravens, who would go on to win the Super Bowl.
The 2006 edition of Pro Football Prospectus, listed the 2000 Titans as one of their "Heartbreak Seasons", in which teams "dominated the entire regular season only to falter in the playoffs, unable to close the deal."
Said Pro Football Prospectus of the 2000 Titans, "Only one of the last eight teams to lose the Super Bowl has made the playoffs the next season: the 2000 Tennessee Titans. The Titans did not just make the playoffs; they waltzed in with the highest [efficiency-rating] in the league and a 13–3 record. The three losses had come by a combined seven points."
"The Titans first playoff game came against their bitter division rivals, the Baltimore Ravens", Pro Football Prospectus continued. "Clearly prepared for a rematch with Baltimore's stifling defense, the Titans outgained the Ravens 317 yards to 134. They converted 23 first downs to the Ravens' 6. They had a time of possession advantage of 40:29–19:31. And they lost the game 24–10."
AFC Divisional Playoff
Even though they had only 134 yards of total offense and six first downs, the Ravens broke a 10–10 tie in the fourth quarter with Anthony Mitchell's 90-yard touchdown return of a blocked Al Del Greco field goal and then added seven more with a 50-yard interception return by Ray Lewis.