Welcome to the last call for the old home of the Tennessee Titans.
Given that this is the team’s final season at (old) Nissan Stadium, a venue already being dwarfed by the massive, fancy, sleek replacement next door, you can expect cookie-cutter storylines for months on the nostalgia of it all. You’ll have last games. Last visits from rival teams. Last scores. Last moments.
When the New York Jets stop by on Sept. 13, it’ll be the Titans’ last season-opener there. That's why Titans guard Peter Skoronski got asked during game week to reflect on the team's foredoomed stadium.
“Just being honest,” Skoronski replied, “I mean, there's not a ton of high notes. I think we all know the record.”
In case you didn't know, the Titans have won only seven of 25
games at Nissan Stadium since Skoronski was drafted in 2023. Five were during his rookie year. Each of the past two seasons, the Titans won only once at home, making for a pitiful total record of 2-15.
I don’t venture here to depress Titans fans on the cusp of a new season.
I mention it because much of this 2026 opener is going to dwindle into a pursuit of revenge, as first-year Titans coach Robert Saleh is facing his old franchise that fired him as head coach during the 2024 season. It’s a juicy angle, no doubt. Especially in the New York market.
It's just that here in Tennessee, the implications of this game loom far more significant. This one feels critical for all Titans. It's truly a must-win, and not just because of Saleh. Over-the-top urgency, unique as it is for an NFL season-opener, has more to do with what Skoronski lamented than his coach, who just got here.
"It means everything to us," Titans quarterback Cam Ward said. "We want to win, not only for ourselves and the culture that we're setting, but we want to win for (Saleh), too . . . This is a big opportunity for all of us. We need to go show the new Titans, what we're about."
Season openers have been enough to make Titans fans queasy anyway. Even when the Titans were good under Mike Vrabel, they weren’t good in Week 1. This franchise hasn’t won a season opener since 2020. That’s five opening defeats in a row. In fairness, the past three were on the road.
When Vrabel returned with the Patriots to beat the Titans last season, his New England players spoke after the game about how much they wanted to win for their coach. But that was in the middle of the season, and the Pats already knew they were pretty good. They also knew the Titans stunk.
By pairing two miserable teams from 2025 in Week 1 of 2026 in Nashville, the NFL was surely thinking about Saleh. What the league did was create a circumstance for both teams where the sting of losing this game will be more intense than the enjoyment of winning it. Both sides have to know that if they lose this one, it’ll be all uphill.
Because as bad as they might be, the Jets must think they can beat these Titans.
And as bad as the Titans could be, they must think they can beat these Jets.
And someone is going to be wrong.
While finding out which one, we’ll also find out how tired of losing these Titans really are. They keep saying things like that. They keep saying how this is a new day. How it has become a different team with its (latest) overhaul of players and (another) new coaching staff.
We'll see. By now, this team’s fans are too skeptical — and understandably so — to buy a word of it without it being demonstrated in Saleh’s opening game. Play poorly and lose this opener, and those Titans fans will start tuning out on this season already.
The Titans desperately need to change their narrative on the field. Which is the only place it counts. They desperately need to provide a real reason for downtrodden fans to cheer and care and show up, without that reason being a new logo or new uniforms or any other contrivance employed by this franchise to help distract from how awful the football team has continued to play as it nears the doorstep to that new stadium.
Only way the vibe changes is when the Titans start winning again.
“We’re ready. We’re excited,” linebacker Cody Barton said. “We've been chomping at the bit for a long time.”
OK, then. No time like the present.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Titans' opener vs Jets is far more important than just revenge for Robert Saleh | Estes
