To understand how difficult winning in the NFL really is to describe, consider the following two quotes:

“It’s something you just feel. Like you feel it, you touch it, you taste it.”

“Winning is like faith. You can’t necessarily see it or touch it. But when you have it, it shows.”

Both of those quotes come from Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day, within one minute of one another no less. And the way he outlined his case, he didn’t really even contradict himself. That’s just how difficult it is to actually describe what it takes to win in this league.

The Titans are 2-11. Dating back to 2022, they’ve lost 43 of their last 55 games. Twenty-seven of the 53 players on the Titans‘ active roster have never finished a season on an NFL team with a winning record. Whether you think of the Titans as a collection of players or as a singular organization, both versions of the team are in the “learning how to win” phase.

So… what does that mean? The Tennessean asked a group of Titans veterans who’ve experienced winning cultures elsewhere what “learning to win” looks like, how it can be achieved and why it’s so important. Here’s a collection of some of the most interesting answers.

Brandon Allen, QB

Winning years: 2017-18, L.A. Rams; 2021-22, Cincinnati Bengals; 2023, San Francisco 49ers

“It’s kind of weird, there’s a certain mentality where you can’t let the highs and lows of the game really get to you. And I think as a rookie that’s hard. Just because you feel the emotion on the sideline, you feel the emotion in the stadium. That can get to you a little bit when you’re young as opposed to teams that have been through all that sort of thing. Guys are going through it now, which is great. But you kind of learn to take each drive, each play as its own entity, then you move on to the next play. Before you know it, you look up and you’ve got points on the board, you’re in the game. There’s a small learning curve, but you can pick it up pretty quickly.”

“I think what goes along with that is a certain level of confidence you have to have entering any game. You have to have confidence that you’re going to go win this game. No matter if you blow them out or you have to win it in overtime. I think that comes with a level of confidence, a level of faith, where it’s not something you put your finger on like ‘This is how you win,’ because then everybody would be winning. But there is a weird sense of confidence, sense of faith, and it comes from a really good team and really good people in the locker room.”

Van Jefferson, WR

Winning years: 2020-21, L.A. Rams; 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers

“I think (I learned how to win) with the Rams, honestly. That Super Bowl year (in 2021). How some of the vets on that squad kind of led by example and how they were vocal about the team. We went through a rough stretch that year where we lost a couple straight and I just remember guys like Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey, those guys stepping up and talking to us and telling us how important it is to do the little things and just how to move forward. The storm is not going to last forever, so you just have to keep pushing.”

“I think it’s something (young players) have to observe to pick it up. I think I can do my part to help them, but I think at the same time it’s something they’re going to observe over time. I think them being rookies and them learning the process of the game, it’s something that’s going to click for them. Sometimes you’ve got to let them go through the fire so they can pick it up on their own.”

Tony Pollard, RB

Winning years: 2021-23, Dallas Cowboys

“I came in with a lot of vets, a lot of older guys. I had guys like Dak (Prescott), Zeke (Elliott), Sean Lee, Jason Witten. I was around some guys that had been in the league a long time and had seen the ups and downs of it. They kind of walked me through and made it easy for me.

“You have to see it. You’ve got to see the wins. You’ve got to see yourself do what it takes to win and then just build off of that.”

Sebastian Joseph-Day, DL

Winning years: 2019-21, L.A. Rams; 2022, L.A. Chargers, 2023, San Francisco 49ers

“It’s definitely a learning process. I was lucky enough and blessed enough to be drafted to the Rams. I was there four years. It’s like everything, it’s everything from the top down. It’s ingrained. The people believe it, you feel it, you see it, you taste it. It’s a real thing learning how to win.”

“I think it’s something that you definitely can learn how to do it without I guess experiencing it at this level. How you do it is essentially how you go to work every day, how you put your best foot forward. How detailed you are. How you go about it. I think culture is created with the players. Obviously, higher-ups instill culture. But it’s also up to the players to uphold and live by it and have pride in it. It’s definitely a multitude of things. It’s a lot more complex question than people think. But it’s something that you live and breathe. You see. You do learn by seeing, but you also learn from action. You also do from action.”

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.