The Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans face off this Sunday at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. Both teams enter the game without a win in 2025, which makes the already intense rivalry between the two teams that much more intense. Neither team wants to leave Sunday’s game with a 0-4 record, but only one team can walk away a winner.

The Titans’ struggles right now can largely be laid at the feet of the coaching staff, although that does not absolve the players from performing at a subpar level. Cam Ward has improved each week, but he’s only one player, and he’s playing behind an offensive line that has more holes than Swiss cheese. The defense hasn’t been at the top of its game either.

Advertisement

The Texans are dealing with similar struggles; C.J. Stroud is working behind an offensive line that also can’t protect him. He’s in his third year, and the offensive line problems have seriously impacted his development as a professional quarterback. Their defense isn’t that much better than the Titans at this point, either, so the rivals are pretty evenly matched in 2025.

There are a lot of causes for concern surrounding the Titans this year, but for their matchup with the Texans, we’ve narrowed it down to three.

Cam Ward popping up on the injury report

There have only been three games, but Cam Ward has been sacked 15 times. The number is dropping each week, but an average of five sacks per game is wildly unacceptable. Some of that is on Ward, but most of it is on the line. Because the offensive line has been so terrible, Ward popped up on the injury report after the Week 3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts with an ankle injury. He is currently listed as questionable, but he is practicing on a limited basis.

Advertisement

The offensive line has not improved at all in 2025, in spite of the Titans attempting to make some changes. Penalties, missed blocks, miscommunication, and more are all problems on offense. These problems have led to forced throwaways, an interception returned for a touchdown, and dropped passes by the receivers. As long as Ward can practice enough and look okay doing it this week, he should be back on the field on Sunday.

If not, though, Ward will sit, and Brandon Allen will get his first start of 2025.

Coaching instability

Brian Callahan just relinquished play-calling duties to quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree. While this might be in the Titans’ favor, it’s also a change for a rookie quarterback to have someone new in his ear on Sunday. There could be hiccups throughout the game and mistakes made, whether by Hardegree or Ward. Anytime there’s a change in personnel who work directly with the quarterback, there is a risk taken because you never know how that player is going to respond. So far, Ward has been saying all the right things about Hardegree, but we will see how accurate he is come Sunday.

Advertisement

Defensive collapse

This defense… woof. It’s been a really rough start to the year on the defensive side of the ball. T’Vondre Sweat was placed on injured reserve ahead of Week 3, Jarvis Brownlee Jr. was traded this week, and the Titans have had zero sacks by an edge rusher. One of the Titans’ sacks goes to defensive end Jeffery Simmons, and the other one goes to safety Amani Hooker.

The linebackers, in general, have been relatively quiet, save for Cody Barton and Cedric Gray, who lead the Titans in tackles with 20 and 19, respectively. The next closest linebacker in tackles is Dre’Mont Jones with six, and Arden Key is way down the line with three tackles. Jones and Key have got to get their edge game going; they should be mentoring Femi Oladejo, but they have been noticeably unimpactful so far.

Even if the coaching changes on offense are effective, it won’t matter if the defense can’t do its job. Dennard Wilson has to figure out a way for the defense to get back on track and be effective on the field.

This article originally appeared on Titans Wire: Tennessee Titans vs. Houston Texans: 3 causes for concern in Week 4