BUFFALO — The Tennessee Titans (0-2) flatly got their asses kicked by the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football. A nationally televised audience saw Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel's team embarrass themselves by a score of 41-7.

The forever-underdog Titans failed at every level in front of 71,608 blacked-out Bills fans who could not have been happier to dance on their graves.

Since the AFL-NFL merger (1970) 400 teams that have started the season 0-2. Tennessee became No. 401 in Buffalo last night. Only 38 of those first 400, however, made the playoffs (9.5%), per the Sporting News. Tennessee has been consistently competitive under Vrabel since his hire in 2018, proving plenty of people wrong in the process.

Whatever that was at Highmark Stadium, it barely felt like a professional football team.

Derrick Henry's not bailing them out

That's twice now that the Titans have opened up a game scoring a touchdown on their first possession.

"Offensively, just got behind the chains early after that first touchdown," Vrabel said in postgame. "I felt like that was a great drive. That's exactly how we want to play the game. Went down there, committed to a short-yardage run, scored a touchdown. Just weren't able to do enough after that."

It's also two of only three drives that have ended in 6 for them at any point in this 0-2 start. If Tennessee was to keep pace with Buffalo, running back Derrick Henry was going to have to get back to making explosive plays. Instead, Henry finished with thirteen attempts for 25 yards. The Titans offense went the entire game without a play over 19 yards. Left tackle Taylor Lewan is feared done for the year, going down on the first offensive snap of the game.

Quarterback Ryan Tannehill and embattled coordinator Todd Downing floundered. The Titans had 11 total drives. Six ended in punts, three more with turnovers and one odd-looking surrender to end the first half letting the clock run out with a minute left and two timeouts.

It's not just that the Titans struggled against a superior conference opponent, it is that they failed to look meaningfully competitive in any way.

"I pride myself on being a playmaker, and making plays for this team," said Henry. "I didn't do that tonight. (The Bills) were the better team tonight in all three phases the whole game, and we just weren't good enough at all."

Titans 2022 situation seems entirely different

I thought about this for a long time after I managed to find my way out of the wasteland that was the Buffalo tailgating lots.

Monday night is one of the few times we have gotten to experience a postgame aftermath since the NFL peeled back COVID protocols. Tennessee had lost games in the zoom era like a 2020 40-14 shelling in Green Bay that we had not been able to witness the environment afterwards, but nothing like this. What the Bills did to the Titans was the greatest losing margin the franchise has suffered in Vrabel's tenure.

The vibe in the visiting locker room was that of complete shock.

Personally, I bought in too much on a team doing nothing but selling this offseason.

The warning signs were there. Re-litigating the A.J. Brown trade seems like a waste of time until you realize that he's doing exactly what he's being paid to do in Philadelphia: lift up a lesser-than quarterback. Who knows if the Brown-Titans marriage could have ever been salvaged. The job of the franchise was to make sure it never got that far. Yet it ended in social media catfights with both sides seem very eager to let everyone know that the blame does not fall solely on them.

All over the league, however, teams raised the bar this offseason to give themselves the best opportunity to win around adverse circumstances. Tennessee did no such thing.

Jalen Hurts and the Eagles are a great example. Watching Tua Tagovailoa comfortably air it out in a six-touchdown performance with skill players like Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle and scheme designed to maximize them. The franchises employing Hurts and Tagovailoa actively sought out quarterback lifer rafts. The Titans spent their summer trying to convince people they were better off throwing theirs away.

Tennessee's problems run far deeper than just offense

A team that average 5.8 penalties a contest last season is currently tied for the fifth-most per game (8.0).

Preseason stud Kyle Philips was supposed to make a difference in the return game and has muffed punts in back-to-back weeks. Already down star edge defender Harold Landry for the season, his running mate Bud Dupree went missing in the first half with a hip injury and did not return to finish the Buffalo game. Without top corner Kristian Fulton, former first-round pick Caleb Farley got put through hell by Stefon Diggs and Jake Kumerow (?).

Bills quarterback Josh Allen was asked in a postgame interview which of the four scores he threw to his teammates was his favorite.

"Reggie Gilliam," said Allen. "Fullback scores, baby. Gotta love it. Breaking two tackles there on a little screen, going and finding the end zone. That's a guy who works his tail off day in and day out at practice."

Diggs was more than happy to catch the other three.

15 games remain on the Titans schedule, but they've given precious little evidence that this year's team is up to task. Last season's AFC No. 1 overall seed spent the week talking about being happier chasing a top team than being chased. Vrabel and Co. have done well enough in adverse circumstances to lull us into benefit of the doubt.

Through two games, the Titans roster looks inadequate. The product on the field has come up laughably short.

Tennessee desperately wants to traffic in the "no one believes in us" narrative.

Fine then. Have it your way.

Featured Image: USA TODAY Sports.