HOUSTON ― Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and call this putrid start to the Tennessee Titans season the worst four-game beginning in NFL history.

But by all means, feel free to call it the second-worst.

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The Titans are 0-4 after their 26-0 mauling at the hands of the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium on Sept. 28. Coach Brian Callahan’s squad has been outscored 120 to 51, out-gained 1,474 yards to 842, and out-gained 5.94 yards per play to 3.66.

On third and fourth downs, the Titans‘ offense has a 28.8% conversion rate, and the defense is allowing a 43.1% conversion rate. The offense has advanced into the red zone seven times, while the defense has been backed up in its own red zone 15 times.

All bad, sure. But nothing that’s historically bad, necessarily. Consider the Titans’ paltry 3.66 yards per play, for example. It’s merely the 43rd-worst four-game start to an NFL season since 1964. The Titans’ 120 points allowed doesn’t even crack the bottom-100 worst starts.

The Titans’ brutal point differential of minus-69 isn’t just outside the bottom 50 all-time — it’s not even the worst in team history among four-game starts. The squads in 2006 (minus-74) and 2012 (minus-70) fared worse.

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The thing that stands out about these Titans is the totality of the bad. Look at what happens if instead of isolating variables, you package them together.

Take the three big offensive issues here ― 51 or fewer points scored, 3.66 or fewer yards per play, 27.8% or worse on third downs ― and there are only nine other teams in NFL history to start as badly. Three of them were expansion teams playing their first four games ever as a franchise.

Throw in the 120 points allowed and the 1,474 yards allowed and the only other teams left in the sample are 2001 Washington and 2013 Jacksonville. And that Washington team was more than half-a-yard per play better on defense than these Titans are.

It’s hard to find an area where the 2025 Titans are worse than the 2013 Jaguars, who scored fewer points and allowed more. They committed more turnovers and took away fewer. The Jaguars even allowed more sacks.

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So yes, it’s difficult to unseat the era that started with Gus Bradley and ended with Blaine Gabbert. If you want to grasp at straws, those Jaguars put up 54 more yards of total offense than these Titans, though a gigantic portion of those yards came in the fourth quarters of games the Jaguars were already losing by 20-plus points.

Nevertheless, this is the company these Titans are keeping. It’s not the record you want to be competing for, but it’s still technically a superlative.

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X @nicksuss. Subscribe to the Talkin’ Titans newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Are Titans the worst 0-4 team in NFL history? Here’s what stats say