CLEVELAND ― Brace yourselves. It’s time for a “really bad word.”

“We’ve had drives and plays where we’ve shown the potential of what we can do,” Tennessee Titans offensive tackle JC Latham said, “but potential’s a really bad word because it shows you really haven’t done anything.”

The Titans turned potential into a brief glimpse at a best-case scenario reality on Dec. 7 in beating the Cleveland Browns 31-29, behind a dominant day from the run game and much-maligned offensive line. The Titans ran 35 times for 184 yards. The carries are the most from them in a regulation game since Sept. 30, 2024, and the 184 yards are tied for their most in a game since Christmas Eve 2022.

Running back Tony Pollard’s 161 rushing yards are the 11th-most by a player in any NFL game this season, and the most by a Titans running back since Derrick Henry went for 219 yards against Houston on Oct. 30, 2022.

Let’s make one thing clear: Those numbers don’t even come close to doing justice to how unexpected these results were. The Titans went to Cleveland as the NFL’s second-worst rushing team, averaging just 76.7 yards per game. They’d broken 20 carries in a game just once since the end of October. Pollard didn’t even have 161 rushing yards in his past four games combined.

And even when the Titans do find a little bit of rushing success, they have a track record of going away from it. That’s what happened a week ago against Jacksonville, when Pollard ran three times for 36 yards on the opening possession, then only seven more times for 24 yards the rest of the game.

But the Titans saw leaning on the run as their only way forward. Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett is the NFL’s most dominant player. No one wrecks games like he does. And as Titans interim coach Mike McCoy puts it, running at a pass rusher is the best neutralizer. So the Titans ran to keep him from rushing the quarterback on early downs, and in pursuit of consistent gains that prevented the Titans from playing in second- and third-and-long situations, where Garrett feasts.

The best news, honestly, is that the Titans didn’t really do what they set out to do. Not in totality, at least. Ten of the Titans’ 19 first-down runs gained 3 yards or fewer. The run game wasn’t humming every down. But the coaches stuck with it, and the players rewarded them for their faith.

“I think that was an emphasis,” Titans guard Peter Skoronski said. “We all came in from (McCoy) on down and we were like, ‘We’ve got to sit with that. We’ve got to be able to consistently do that for four quarters.’ There were some ugly ones, too, but that’s the run game. That’s part of it. I think we stayed committed to it and credit to (play caller Bo Hardegree) for staying committed to it. It paid off.”

For months, the Titans have lamented their lack of an identity. Latham proposes that a bruising, dominant run game could be that identity. That clearly hasn’t been the case thus far — hence Latham’s evocation of the dreaded “potential” conversation. But a game like this gives a team the bug. Especially a franchise that remembers its best eras being headlined by the likes of Eddie George, Chris Johnson and Henry.

“Running the ball, especially how we ran it today, this isn’t a fluke,” Latham said. “We strained to finish every block. Obviously not every rep is perfect, but we strained to finish every block and that’s something we need to do consistently.”

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.