INDIANAPOLIS — Mike Borgonzi walked down a hallway inside the Lucas Oil Stadium press box early in the third quarter with a sour look on his face.
The Tennessee Titans general manager had nothing to smile about what he saw in the first half.
Then, everything changed.
The Titans set quarterback Cam Ward and its offense up with turnovers and special teams plays in the second half, and Joey Slye’s 49-yard go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter gave the Titans a 26-20 comeback victory over the Indianapolis Colts to snap a seven-game losing streak dating back to last season.
Tennessee (1-5) trailed 13-0 at halftime after netting three first downs and 64 total yards in the first half against the Colts (2-4).
In the second half, Titans defensive tackle
Jeffery Simmons forced a fumble, cornerback Cor’Dale Flott intercepted a pass, and Julius Chestnut and James Williams Sr. teamed up to block a punt that Femi Oladejo returned 14 yards for a TD.
Those plays led to 13 points to aid a struggling offense.
The Titans’ wounded secondary recorded two interceptions, the other from safety Amani Hooker, and Ward delivered his only score of the day, an 8-yard touchdown pass to Carnell Tate to tie it at 13-13 with 1:44 left in the third quarter.
That was set up by a 58-yard punt return by Tennessee returner Chimere Dike.
Ward finished 11-of-22 for 102 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Tennessee Titans avoid more losing marks
The Titans snapped an 11-game division losing streak and logged their first victory since Dec. 21, 2025.
This despite the fact that Ward and Tennessee had no momentum early.
The Titans were shut out in the opening half. That included a three-and-out and a Ward interception late in the second quarter thrown well short of intended receiver Tate.
Ward appeared to have Calvin Ridley open on the play, but the pass went directly to Colts safety Camryn Bynum. Indianapolis capitalized with Spencer Shrader’s third field goal of the half to lead 13-0.
The frustrating part early was Tennessee got help from its defense, but it didn’t create opportunities of its own against a Colts defense that came in ranked no better than 27th in the NFL in yards per game, yards per play, rushing yards per game, passing yards per game and passing yards per play.
Titans finally get big plays on defense
The Titans’ league-worst offense has desperately needed turnover help from the other side of the ball.
That finally happened.
Tennessee won the turnover battle 3-1 with big defensive plays it’s been looking for. The Titans logged three first-half sacks and six total.
The forced fumble by Simmons in the third quarter didn’t do a lot, with the Titans settling for a field goal to make it 13-3, but momentum started shifting.
The Colts had the ball much of the game, out-possessing the Titans 24:58 to 12:17 by the time of Flott’s interception in the third quarter.
The Titans were well ahead in the turnover battle at that point but had just 86 yards of offense to show for it.
The Colts were no juggernaut, but they averaged 72.3 yards per drive in the first half, not including the short field after Ward’s interception, and manufactured points the way they have all season.
Indianapolis reached the red zone on their first two possessions and grabbed momentum from the jump, getting a stop and taking a 7-0 lead after Daniel Jones threw a short pass to Mo Alie-Cox for a 1-yard touchdown.
Tyler Palmateer covers the Tennessee Titans for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, @tpalmateer83.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How Tennessee Titans, Cam Ward rallied past Colts for first win of 2026
