Press Man Coverage | The Titans’ Year 3 Problem, and Saleh’s Year 1 Job

Send us Fan Mail The Titans are in rare air. Back-to-back 3-14 seasons in 2024 and 2025, then a 0-5 start in 2026. Three consecutive seasons of five or fewer wins almost never happens in the modern NFL. Most teams dig out of one bad year or a two-year hole. Three straight is usually a multi-year organizational failure. Robert Saleh is not the coach who dug that hole. He is Year 1. He inherited the two 3-14 seasons, Cam Ward in Year 2, Brian Daboll, and Mike Borgonzi. Now the question is what his vision is supposed to produce, and what history says a turnaround actually looks like once new leadership is in place. In this solo episode, Lem goes through the clearest modern comps of teams that posted five or fewer wins in consecutive seasons and what Year 3 looked like: -Cleveland Browns (1-15, 0-16, then 7-8-1 with Baker Mayfield) -Detroit Lions (0-16, 2-14, then 6-10 with a healthier Matthew Stafford) -Jacksonville Jaguars (1-15, 3-14, then 9-8 and a division title with Trevor Lawrence and Doug Pederson) -St. Louis Rams (2-14, 1-15, then 7-9) -The Titans’ own 2014–16 stretch (2-14, 3-13, then 9-7) Year 3 is rarely a contender. The realistic outcomes are usually 6–9 wins with some competence, or a sharper jump when a new competent coach pairs with a Year 2 high-end quarterback and better roster construction. The Jaguars and the Titans’ own previous rebuild are the optimistic markers. The Browns and Lions show how slow and incomplete the recovery can still be. Saleh has said one game will not define them and that this organization will have its day in the sun. The question is what that actually requires in his first year, and whether the current path matches the comps that eventually got out. In this episode: -How rare three straight seasons of five or fewer wins really is -What the first five games and full Year 3 looked like for the closest comps -How QB, head coach, and GM changes drove (or delayed) the bounce -Where Cam Ward and this first-year staff sit relative to those timelines -What a reasonable Saleh vision should produce in 2026 What does progress actually look like from here? Drop it in the comments. Press Man Coverage is your home for all things Tennessee Titans. Follow us: X: @PressManLive Instagram: @pressmancoveragepod YouTube: @OutEastNetwork TikTok: @pressmancoverage #TennesseeTitans #Titans #RobertSaleh #CamWard #NFL #PressManCoverage #TitanUp 📲 Follow Us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pressmancov YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@outeastnetwork Twitter/X: https://x.com/pressmanlive?s=21