Titans 2026 strength of schedule looks totally different than it was in 2025, but there’s a catch
Here’s the good news: the Titans’ schedule looks to be easing up in 2026 after a historically difficult 2025. But don’t leave before you hear the bad news.
Anybody who watched the Tennessee Titans in 2025 knows two things for certain: the team was certifiably bad, but they also played one of the most brutal schedules of all time.
That’s not hyperbole. Cam Ward’s rookie year really ended up being one of the most challenging campaigns in NFL history by all statistical measures. But with the NFL schedule release coming later this month (though perhaps delayed), things are looking up for Robert Saleh’s first go around with this franchise. Warren Sharp’s annual Strength of Schedule (SOS) metrics are out, and they shine favorably on the Titans. There’s just one very important thing to keep in mind.
Titans’ schedule looks to be easing up… again
These rankings will change some once we learn the details of everybody’s actual schedule. Rest advantages, primetime spots, and how early/late in the season you play certain opponents all factor into them. Sharp’s proprietary model goes much further than simply looking at how each team performed the year prior. His numbers are based on creating a consensus betting line. This is Vegas’s knowledge, aggregated.
Right now, Sharp’s rankings have the Titans playing a slightly easier than average schedule this season.
The 13th easiest SOS is perfectly fine for Cam Ward’s second season, especially after what he endured last year. But this is where we find the cautionary tale.
Believe it or not, the Titans had an even easier preseason outlook in Sharp’s model last year! He had them down for the 8th easiest path in the NFL.
If you want a recap on just how brutal it ended up being, here you go: Tennessee finished the season with the 2nd most difficult SOS in the league based purely on opponent win percentage (.574), just behind the Cardinals. Sharp’s own postseason model showed them playing the hardest SOS in the league based on factors that go deeper than opponent record.
In their first four games, they faced the juggernaut version of the Colts, a playoff team, and two participants in conference championship weekend. By their Week 10 bye, they’d faced the juggernaut Colts again as well as another playoff team and the Super Bowl losers. They came out of the bye week and faced a playoff team, the Super Bowl champions, and another playoff team. And then they faced two more playoff teams down the stretch before things ended ever so mercifully. It was unbelievable to the point of hilarity.
So this is why you shouldn’t get too tied up in the preseason SOS, no matter how intelligent the formula is. Sharp’s is perhaps the best, and even his was woefully wrong about the Titans last year. Odds are good that Ward won’t face nearly as difficult a gauntlet this season, and thank goodness for that. But we won’t know how easy or difficult things are until we get into the season.