On the Monday after the Tennessee Titans fell to 0-5, and to a grand total of 6-33 in their past 39 games, I put out a fan survey on the state of the franchise. I kept it open to anybody with the link for exactly 24 hours, and I didn’t know what to expect.

The response was overwhelming.

Titans president and CEO Burke Nihill shared an official statement in reaction to how many of you spoke out, and you’ll find it later in this article. But first, the data.

To be clear, this wasn’t 7,800 clicks on an article or a YouTube video. A total of 7,813 dedicated Titans fans answered more than 25 questions about this team. Nearly half of you, 3,712 to be exact, then left an essay-style response with more thoughts, feelings, complaints, pleas, and opinions on this franchise. I didn’t expect that, and I’m not sure anybody did. That includes the Titans.

I spoke to the organization about the results, and I can say with confidence that this got the attention of the franchise from top to bottom. Nobody in that building, certainly nobody in power, will miss what you all had to say here. I have this handed the data over to the team, as they expressed interest in taking it and using the results in any way they can to better themselves.

Let’s dive into the numbers ourselves:

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Data Analysis: Fan Profile & Pulse

More than 7-in-10 respondents have been Titans fans for 20+ years. Only 2.5% became fans within the past five years. It won’t shock anybody to hear that this is a survey of fans who have been around to see a thing or two.

56.2% call themselves an “obsessive fan” or the “world’s biggest fan,” and another 39.5% say they’re serious fans. Just 4.3% describe themselves as casuals. This team’s A1 fanbase came through for this survey.

“This is the worst it’s ever been for the Titans” is not, in fact, just something that those of us in media think right now. The results are clear, this large sample of long-tenured fans believe it too. 87.6% of respondents agreed with that sentiment at an 8 or higher on the scale. Only 4.8% disagreed with a 3 or lower. The average score here was 8.93 out of 10. Things have really never been worse.

Even for this self-described group of highly dedicated fans, apathy has officially beaten anger at this point. Only 12.8% of respondents are still fully invested and purely frustrated.

Nearly 8 in 10 respondents rated their likelihood of spending money on the Titans again this season at 3 or lower; 57.3% picked 1, that they don’t plan on spending another dime.

Only 5.3% say they’re pretty likely (8–10) to spend serious money again this year. The average score was 2.43 out of 10.

This is the first place we find a truly split answer. For a self-described group of highly serious fans, the fact that 53.8% of them (1-3) said it was entirely possible they’d choose to skip watching a game, 27.5% said they won’t be missing when the team plays (8-10). And if they’re saying that right now, then there may really be nothing you could do to get that group to tune out entirely.

Titans Owner Amy Adams Strunk

More than three-fourths of respondents rate their current opinion of Strunk at 3 or lower right now. 44.1% say it’s the lowest it could possibly be.

Strunk’s average rating fell from 4.4 a year ago* to a 2.5 now. 72% of respondents feel worse about her today than they felt a year ago.

*Important to note that in this survey, all references to approval ratings a year ago are hindsight ratings, which is not reliably accurate to what each individual would have said in the moment had they actually been polled a year ago. This does meaningfully measure people’s perceived trend in approval, however, and that is what should be the focus here.

57.5% assign Strunk heavy blame (8–10) for the Titans’ current woes, versus 6.9% who give her very little blame (1–3). 22.7% gave Strunk the maximum 10, and her blame score is the highest of the four leaders in this survey. This average score was 7.47 out of 10.

More than 6 in 10 respondents want to hear from Strunk badly (8-10). fewer than 2 in 10 are uninterested (1-3).

This question asked for respondents to check as many boxes as they felt applied to them. So while 43.2% admitted they weren’t sure Strunk could say anything they’d find satisfying, only 25.9% chose that options by itself. A comfortable majority of respondents would like to hear her take responsibility for and voice her frustration over the current state of the team.

Doing a little bit of winning wouldn’t do much to sway respondents’ opinion of Strunk: 64.1% say a couple wins would barely change their mind (1-3). Only 4.4% said it would change their mind a lot (8-10). The average score here is 3.1 out of 10.

Titans President/CEO Burke Nihill

More than 7 in 10 respondents rate their current opinion of Nihill at a 3 or lower. nearly half said their opinion is as low as it can get.

Nihill’s average rating fell from 4.2 a year ago to 2.4 today. 60.5% of respondents feel worse about him today than they did a year ago.

42.7% assign Nihill heavy blame (8-10) for the current state of the team, versus 10.1% who give him very little blame (1-3). Nihill ranks second in average blame, behind Strunk but ahead of Borgonzi and Saleh.

More than 4 in 10 respondents want to hear from Nihill on specific issues badly (8-10), and 30.9% gave it a 10. But unlike Strunk, there’s a significant portion of fans disinterested in hearing what he has to say. 1 in 4 respondents as as uninterested in hearing him speak as they possibly could be, and 43.4% checked only the box saying they aren’t sure he could say anything to satisfy them. Compared to Strunk, an outsized number of respondents are particularly interested in hearing his speak on specific situations of interest, such as restructuring of leadership.

Winning a bit wouldn’t change much for Nihill either; 73.9% say a couple of wins would barely change their minds (1-3), and the average score was 2.5. Nihill was the “least redeemable by wins” of the four leaders in this survey, with over half of respondents choosing a 1 out of 10 here.

Football Leadership

More than 1 in 5 respondents rate their current opinion of Borgonzi at 3 or lower. His average rating fell from 6.7 a year ago to 5.4 today. 61.2% of respondents feel at least a little worse about him today than they did a year ago.

14.6% assign Borgonzi heavy blame (8-10) for the state of the franchise, compared to 32.4% who give him little blame (1-3). The majority live right in the middle, the average score here is 4.9.

Winning a couple games wouldn’t immediately change a ton for the GM either. 36.9% say a couple of wins would barely change how they feel (1-3) and only 13.3% say it would change their feelings a lot (8-10). The average score here is 4.5.

Nearly 3 in 10 respondents rate their current opinion of Saleh at a 3 or lower. His average rating went from a 6.5 when he was hired to a 4.6 today. Nearly 10% of all respondents have swung entirely on the head coach, going from a 7+ favorable view when he was hired to less than a 3 favorability today.

Fans put far less of the overarching state of the franchise on the football side of things right now. the median answer is 5. 34.2% of respondents assign Saleh little blame (1-3) for the current state of the Titans.

This won’t surprise anybody: Saleh has the most to gain from winning a couple of games soon. 30.2% say a few wins would substantially change (8-10) how they feel about him, versus 20.7% who say it barely would. His average score of 5.9 is easily the highest of the four leaders in this survey.

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The Titans’ Response

The Titans were gracious with their time as I spoke on behalf of fans. Tennessee’s leadership was receptive to more than just acknowledging the survey. They wanted to hear what fans had to say and put the data to use.

Nihill has recently been unavailable for any kind of comment during a tumultuous time on both the football and business side of the operation. However, he provided A to Z Sports with a comment on behalf of himself, owner Amy Adams Strunk, and the rest of the organization in response to your participation:

“We appreciate any and all feedback that our fans take the time to provide, whether it comes through our post-game surveys, emails and calls, or the conversations that happen in between. Every response tells us something about what it means to be a Titans fan, and we don’t take that for granted. We want to win, and we want to hear about the experience fans are having, both in the stadium and away from it, and what we can do better to earn their trust. That trust is not given, it’s earned, and we know it’s our job to keep earning it. We look forward to reading the results of this survey, learning from what our fans have to say, and using their voices to guide us as we work to build something they can be proud of,” Nihill said.

Essay Responses Tell The Real Stories

The essay section tells the most colorful stories here, and I wanted to highlight them as best I could.

Now, let’s be real: 3,712 written responses were impossible for one person to read in 36 hours. So I used an AI agent to identify themes and count how often each one came up. I also personally read hundreds of the most detailed and thoughtful replies myself. Here are the biggest themes, along with what you said about each one.

Sell the team

The most common theme, in nearly 15% of written responses, was a call for Strunk to sell the team. A total of 512 responses explicitly requested a change at the very top.

One fan wrote, “Amy, for the love of God, please sell this team with 4 exclamation points. You have driven it into the ground. Please, please, please go away.”

Another said, “Amy needs to sell the team. I am seriously looking into quitting my job commuting 2 hours to Nashville every day and running a half marathon around the stadium in protest every day until she sells the team.”

Mike Borgonzi

Curiously, the next most common theme was Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi. Nearly 450 of you mentioned him, and the opinions were split between praise and blame.

One writer said, “I honestly have the most respect for Borgo and have since he was hired.”

Another wasn’t nearly as kind:

“Borgonzi is Ran 2.0. overdraft a bad QB and sign 2 cornerbacks. Next, he will trade a superstar. No respectable talent evaluator had a top 5 grade on Cam Ward.”

Yet another preached patience: “I can’t blame Borgo or Saleh for crimes of instability. They need a couple of years before I have any expectations from their team.”

The new stadium, concerts, and PSLs

Next up was the bucket covering the new stadium, concerts, taxpayer involvement, and PSL sales. A total of 429 comments on these topics:

One fan wrote, “At this point it just feels like the whole organization doesn’t care at all if they do well or not. It feels like they are just the excuse for Nashville to get a new concert event venue. They don’t care if the team actually plays well, they just need the team to exist to fuel a new venue. And they damn sure don’t care about their fans. They would rather see opposing teams’ fans come into town and get an easy win to fuel tourism and the money that comes from it.”

Another wrote, “I struggle to see how we dig ourselves out of this hole. Add to that the fact that the organization is using public funds to build a stadium that’s largely pricing out their longtime local fans.”

A third, particularly heartfelt writer said, “My father has been a season ticket member since 1999. I remember this as a little girl attending games with my family, and we still attend games to this day in the exact same seats in the 300 level. The fact that we probably will not be season ticket members in the brand new stadium because the price increase is not feasible breaks my heart. We’ve been bringing my daughter to games now, and to know that she won’t be able to grow up making Sunday memories with the Titans makes us incredibly sad. I hope the Titans organization will find a way to let longtime season ticket members afford tickets for the new stadium especially when their record is 0-5.”

Burke Nihill

Based on the multiple-choice results, it won’t surprise anybody that more than 400 respondents brought up Nihill by name. The commentary was mostly critical, and much of it called for him to be fired.

One writer said plainly, “CEO needs to go. Since he took over, we went downHILL, pun intended.”

Another said, “The one constant with the team’s course is Burke Nihill. Ever since he came in 2020, the team has been on a constant spiral downward. He fires people like he is on The Apprentice. Amy Adams Strunk should bring in someone to head this organization that can run it efficiently and effectively. When things are ran poorly at the top, it filters through the rest of the organization.”

The laughingstock of the league

Then came the heartbreak. On the topic of Tennessee being an embarrassment or a laughingstock, 369 people had something to say.

One wrote, “It’s frustrating to be the laughingstock of the league. I’m an out-of-state fan and many friends and family members think of me when they hear about the Titans, good or bad. In the past 4 years, it has been all bad.”

Another wrote, “The franchise is embarrassing. I travel all over the country for work. People laugh when they see me wearing gear. They think the Titans are a joke.”

Another wrote, “The amount of ridicule I receive from family, friends, and co-workers just for giving my heart to this team is really becoming too much. A Super Bowl would be heaven, but every Sunday for the last several seasons have been hell.”

Hopelessness

Nearly 100 submissions mentioned hopelessness specifically.

“This entire organization is an extremely poor— poorly ran dumpster fire. I have no hope this team will ever be relevant again.”

Another said, “I’ve followed this team for over 30 years. I couldn’t fathom it ever getting this bad. It’s almost 30 years since the Super Bowl run, and I’m afraid I’ll never see that level of success again before I’m dead. Please do something, Titans.”

A third said, “Tired of losing and never giving us a reason for hope. The uniforms are cool, but you can put makeup on a pig all the same. Make some sound, smart decisions that are a reason to believe in the future. We seem to be the only franchising incapable of that ever since AJ Brown left town.”

On top of that, 34 respondents declared that they are actively considering switching teams. Another 31 brought up the idea of relocation.

Fandom as a family legacy

Easily the saddest stretch of comments I read dealt with fandom as something passed down through families. Many of you mentioned your children.

“My son is 11 and doesn’t want to be a fan or go to games now. This past Sunday he asked me, why do we have to be fans?”

“I don’t have a lot of time with my father-in-law and it pains my soul when we don’t watch the game together, but I just can’t keep wasting my Sundays watching this awful team. I have time to get over, but he doesn’t.”

“lifelong fan since 1999. My son is now almost 3 and I genuinely feel guilty trying to indoctrinate him into this disaster of a team.”

“I stopped trying to raise my kids as a Titans fan. I want them to enjoy football and they did not understand why they should get invested in such a consistently awful team. My son does like Derrick Henry though.”

“It is hard to get my son interested in the Titans when they are so bad and have no positive upside. I’ve been a fan since they moved here and this is rock bottom.”

And just one more from a pool of many: “It is making it difficult to get my children to care. Even when offered free tickets, it’s not worth the trip anymore.”

The Titans curse

A fun subgenre of responses is the idea that this team is cursed. Literally cursed.

Said one, “I am genuinely of the belief that there is a curse on this organization.”

“We are cursed, doomed to wander the doldrums of mediocrity forever. There will be a good season or two here or there, but mostly just bottom-tier franchise.”

Another said, “Hire some wizards and witches because this team is straight cursed.”

Another said, “I think someone possibly put a curse on this team.”

The football side

The football commentary looked a lot like the daily offerings you’d find from fans on X. It ranged from belief in quarterback Cam Ward, to calls for him to be benched or moved on from, to arguments that he needs more support and patience. Fans also wrote about waning belief in Titans coach Robert Saleh and questioned Brian Daboll as a play caller. The offensive line came up plenty, along with the topic du jour this week: Titans left tackle Dan Moore as a massive detriment to the offense.

Meanwhile, more than 200 respondents brought up the breakup of the last great group of Titans. That primarily meant the AJ Brown trade, but also the departure of Derrick Henry and the firing of Mike Vrabel.

A call for communication

Nearly 250 respondents specifically called for communication from leadership and expressed frustration with its silence.

Said one, “The losses are one thing. The lack of communication is a slap in the face.”

Another asked, “What’s the plan? Not in platitudes, but real, transparent, actionable plans.”

Dysfunction in the building

Along those lines, 252 respondents criticized the dysfunction in Tennessee and what appears to be a culture in disarray, with far too many firings.

Said one, “These same issues have spanned multiple coaches and multiple GMs, so I don’t blame Robert and Mike for the overall dysfunction.”

Another said, “The dysfunction within the front office is getting out of hand and is a national joke at this point. Hire a football-minded team president that can help us move in the right direction.”

And a third, “There is obviously a poison in the building somewhere.”

The need for stability

Finally, 253 of you mentioned the need to stop the hiring cycle and embrace stability and patience.

One said, “Can’t keep firing GM, then head coach, then GM, then head coach. Needs stability in all caps.”

Another said, “Titans need stability, so please no drastic changes.”

And the third: “This organization is suffering from a lack of stability. People needed to be fired and people were fired, but it feels like we have never gotten our footing back. So the turnover continues and it is unclear if any of the moves are actually moving the organization in the right direction.”

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Thousands of you showed up in 24 hours to tell this franchise exactly how you feel, and the people running it have now heard it directly. Thank you to every fan who took the time to participate, and thank you to the Titans for being receptive to the conversation.