Johnson’s Three TD’s Lead Bengals to 35-6 Blowout of Titans

Posted by Matt Loede under Cincinnati Bengals, Tennessee Titans

Chad dances after a score

If anyone had any questions about the Tennessee Titans being in trouble in the AFC playoff picture, just take a look at the outcome Sunday in Cincinnati. The Titans Sunday ran into a motivated Bengals team that jumped on them early, and got a big day from wide out Chad Johnson in a runaway 35-6 win for the cats from the Queen city.

The loss for the Titans means that they have dropped three in a row, and for a team that a month ago seemed to be a lock to make the playoffs as a wild card, if the season ended right now the 6-5 Titans would be on the outside looking in. “Thoughts, man, just thoughts, trying to see what’s going on, what’s the problem, what we need to do to get back to where we need to be at,” said Titans QB Vince Young. “Why is this all of a sudden happening to us, going back to that bad feeling that we had last year with getting our butt whooped?”

While the ship is sinking for the Titans, Sunday the Bengals played their best overall game of the season. Johnson came out of nowhere for three TD catches to go along with 12 catches and 103 yards. They finally ran the ball as well as any day in 2007, with Rudi Johnson going for 88 yards on 25 carries, and the team scored twice on the ground. Overall they put up 426 yards of offense.

That’s a far cry of where the Titans stand right now. Yes, they did have 305 yards of total offense, but they were just 2-10 on third downs, had just 61 yards on the ground, and only were able to hold the ball for 21:30 as compared to 38:30 for the Bengals. To say that the Titans are not playing well right now is an understatement.

Vince Young was 19-for-31 for 246 yards with a pick. He was sacked once, and also fumbled deep in Cincy territory. The Titans trailed 14-6 at the half, but then Cincy scored twice in the third quarter and once again in the fourth to put the blowout in the books.

The Titans next week will host the Texans at home in a key AFC South game that is a must win. The Bengals will be on the road in Pittsburgh on Sunday night to take on the Steelers.