Titans Snap Home Skid in Style, Behind Rookie Surge and Pollard's Hot Streak
Four hundred and twelve days. That’s how long it had been since the Tennessee Titans last celebrated a win at Nissan Stadium. But on Sunday, the streak finally snapped - and it didn’t just break, it shattered with authority.
Tennessee’s 26-9 victory over a short-handed Kansas City Chiefs squad wasn’t just a win. It was a statement.
A sigh of relief. A long-overdue reward for a team that had been grinding through a brutal stretch of home losses - 11 straight, to be exact.
One more, and they would’ve tied an unwanted NFL record shared by the 1988 Cowboys and 2008 Rams. Instead, they flipped the script.
“We were desperate to win at home,” said defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, who set the tone early with a safety. “And guys played that way today. I’m proud of this team.”
The Titans didn’t just win - they executed one of their most complete performances of the season, and it started with the rookies. Quarterback Cam Ward looked poised and efficient, completing 75 percent of his passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns. He kept the ball clean, stayed composed, and let the offense flow through him - a major step forward in his development.
Ward’s scoring tosses - a 7-yard shovel to tight end Chig Okonkwo and a 1-yard dart to fellow rookie Chimere Dike - highlighted a growing chemistry with his young weapons. Dike wasn’t just a red-zone threat, either. He made a major impact on special teams, breaking a franchise record in combined punt and kick return yardage.
“I think as a group our job is just to change that,” Dike said of the team’s home woes. “This is a step in the right direction, and hopefully we can continue to win home games because it sure is fun.”
And let’s talk about Tony Pollard. The veteran running back is in the midst of a career-best stretch, and Sunday marked his third straight 100-yard rushing game - something he’d never done before.
He closed the day with 102 yards on 21 carries, averaging nearly five yards per touch. The offensive line made sure he hit the century mark, too, with a final four-yard rush just before the Titans went into victory formation.
“I think we all wanted to get him over 100 there at the end,” said left guard Peter Skoronski. “It’s a credit to him and his ability but also just the whole unit working together.”
Pollard’s recent surge - 161 yards in Cleveland, 104 in San Francisco, and now 102 against Kansas City - has helped reshape Tennessee’s offensive identity. The Titans entered the game with 320 rushing yards and a 5.8 yards-per-carry average in December, both top-four marks in the league this month. And they built on that momentum once again.
“This is when you want to play your best ball anyway,” Pollard said. “It just shows that we have something going here and we have to build off of it.”
The defense didn’t take the day off either. With Patrick Mahomes sidelined by a torn ACL and Gardner Minshew exiting early with a knee injury, the Chiefs turned to practice squad quarterback Chris Oladokun - and the Titans pounced. They sacked him four times, pressured him consistently, and set up short fields for the offense.
It was the kind of complementary football interim head coach Mike McCoy has been preaching since taking over - and on Sunday, it finally came together at home.
“This win here at home for us was huge,” said Pollard. “For the fans, for the owners, for the players, for anybody in the locker room, it was big for us.”
Before Sunday, the Titans hadn’t won at Nissan Stadium since November 3, 2024 - also in overtime, also against the Patriots. Since then, it had been a string of heartbreaks: blowouts by the Rams, Colts, and Patriots; a last-second loss to Houston; a late push that came up short against Seattle. Even their most recent return home had been filled with frustration.
But this one felt different. The locker room celebration afterward said it all.
“You get a win, especially like this at home … it makes you feel like you’ve won the last 10 games,” linebacker Cody Barton said. “Wins are huge in this league, and they’re hard to come by. It’s all about winning the game.”
And for the first time in over a year, the Titans did just that - in front of their home crowd, with their young core leading the way, and a running back hitting his stride at just the right time.
It wasn’t just a win. It was a turning point.