George Scored A Touchdown For The Second Straight Week

Titans Fall To Vikings, Still Can't Reach .500
by Aaron Rich, December 9, 2001

Minnesota reeled off 28 unanswered points and backup quarterback Todd Bouman threw four touchdown passes as the Vikings dismantled the Titans 42-24 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis on Sunday.

After playing their best quarter of the season in the first 15 minutes of play with a 10-0 lead, the Tennessee defense fell apart giving up touchdowns in four consecutive possessions.

'I thought we did a good job in the first quarter,' defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said. 'And then it was just not making plays and not tackling. You get a quarterback like that who can run, and combine that with the other offensive weapons they have, it can very easily be a long day for you.'

The Titans' loss to Minnesota was their 1st loss to an NFC team since they were defeated by San Fransisco in October 1999. Tennessee had won nine straight against NFC opponents.

Tennessee started the game in familiar territory as they quickly put their opponents in an early hole for the fourth straight week. The Titans engineered an 11 play, 74 yard opening drive to get Eddie George in the end zone for a 7-0 lead. On the opening drive, McNair completed all five of his pass attempts for 49 yards and George had 31 yards on 6 carries.

'Steve is working hard at it, he's studying hard at it, and he is preparing himself real well,' offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger said. 'He threw the ball way too much when the game changed, but I thought he was real sharp and made some good decisions.'

After a 37-yard Joe Nedney field goal, the first quarter came to a close and the Titans held a comfortable 10-0 lead. In that first quarter, Tennessee held the ball for 12:46, and the crowd at the Metrodome was dead. But that's when the game turned around.

Midway through the 2nd quarter, Bouman hit Byron Chamberlain on a 6-yard touhcdown, as the Titans' lead was trimmed to 10-7. Just before the half, Bouman found Jake Reed for a 20-yard touchown and a 14-10 halftime lead. Getting the ball to start the 2nd half, the Vikings scored two minutes into the half on a 31-yard Michael Bennett touchdown run, the longest of his rookie season. A mere two minutes later following an Eddie George fumble, Minnesota scored on their only play of the drive, a 38-yard pass from Bouman to Doug Chapman. The Vikings led 28-10, and the game was virtually over.

'Going into halftime, I told the guys we had to go out and try and get the run back and try and go outside instead of inside,' Heimerdinger said. 'Once we had the (George) fumble and we're 18 points down, we had to change the game plan.'

All of the offensive numbers were there for the Titans. Steve McNair completed 25 of 33 passes for 302 yards and two touchdowns, only McNair's second 300-yard passing game of the season. Eddie George had his best game of the season with 96 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown. The Titans had four receivers with at least 50 receiving yards, including Frank Wycheck, who had five receptions for 72 yards and a touchdown.

'This is a tough team loss that we had today,' Wycheck said. 'It's just very disappointing because we're putting in a lot of hard work. It's going to be hard to regroup because realistically our playoff chances don't look great, but at the same time we're professionals and we will treat our jobs as such. We're going to work like we are 10-2 and in the thick of the race. I think we'll respond playing for pride, and playing for our jobs.'

All of the offensive number were there for Minnesota as well. Bouman completed 21 of 31 passes for 348 yards and four touchdowns and no interceptions. Michael Bennett had his best game of his short NFL career with 113 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns. Randy Moss caught seven passes for 153 yards and a touchdown.

The difference in the game was defense. Minnesota made crucial stops in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, while the Titans defense feel asleep after the 1st quarter. All of this spells a Titans loss, dropping them to 5-7 on the season.

'Our defensive plan was to make them run first, and pass second,' Head Coach Jeff Fisher said. 'We didn't think we would give up as many plays, and we had guys out of position everywhere. We wanted to take away their weapons at the receiver position, but it just didn't work out. We'll try again next week.'

Tennessee hosts Green Bay next Sunday at Adelphia for the first meeting between the two teams since 1998.