The Tennessee Titans’ 2020 schedule was released on Thursday night, and with it came some surprises that caught our attention.
For reference, here’s a quick look at the team’s entire 16-game slate.
So, what are the six things that caught our eye? Let’s take a look at that now.
No TNF game vs. Jaguars
The Titans have had a Thursday Night Football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in five of the past six seasons, so it comes as a bit of a surprise to not see one on the 2020 schedule.
Instead, the Titans will square off with the Jags in a pair of Noon games, one in Week 2 and the other in Week 14. The Titans’ Thursday night game will be against the Indianapolis Colts.
Monday Night Football opener
The Titans will begin the 2020 NFL campaign on the road against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football. This is the first Monday night contest the Titans have played in since the 2018 season.
The Titans couldn’t have drawn a worse road game to start the season, though, as the Broncos are almost unbeatable historically when playing home games during the first two weeks of the regular season.
5 home games in 7 weeks
The Titans will have a grand total of five home games in a seven-week span.
From Week 4 through Week 10, the Titans will play five of six games at home, with their bye week coming in Week 7. The only road game in that stretch will be against Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Week 4: vs. Steelers
Week 5: vs. Bills
Week 6: vs. Texans
Week 7: BYE
Week 8: at Bengals
Week 9: vs. Bears
Week 10: vs. Colts
Should the Titans get off to a slow start in their first three games, they’ll have a golden opportunity to right the ship mostly in Nashville in the seven weeks that follow.
5 road games last 7 weeks
That nice home-game stretch means that the Titans will be hitting the road often to close out the season. In the final seven weeks of the season, the Titans will have five road games.
Week 11: at Ravens
Week 12: at Colts
Week 13: vs. Browns
Week 14: at Jaguars
Week 15: vs. Lions
Week 16: at Packers
Week 17: at Texans
It would be nice if the Titans can leave themselves some wiggle room for what will be a tough stretch of games that includes three divisional opponents and three 2019 playoff teams.
Thankfully for Tennessee, they tend to play better away from home. The Titans will need that trend to continue if they want to finish 2020 strong.
3 primetime games
The Titans only got one primetime game in 2019, which was their Thursday Night Football matchup against the Jags.
While they won’t be playing Jacksonville in primetime in 2020, the Titans did draw three primetime games in total.
The first will occur in the aforementioned season opener versus the Broncos, the second will be in Week 10 against the Colts on Thursday Night Football, and the last will come in Week 16 at Lambeau Field on Sunday Night Football against the Packers.
A ton of noon games
We’re used to Tennessee having a lot of noon games, but in total the Titans will play 12 games at noon, with three night games sprinkled in. The only game time yet to be determined is the Week 16 contest against the Detroit Lions, which could occur on either Saturday or Sunday.
After the Monday night opener, the Titans will play 11 of their next 12 games at noon, and there’s a chance the Lions game could make it 12 of 13 depending on when the game with Detroit is scheduled.
Week 16 will be a night game, and then the regular season finale will be at — you guessed it — noon.
