Titans have 3rd highest playoff odds among last year's last place teams

Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders posted an article on ESPN (In$ider) today ranking the playoff odds of last year's last place teams. The Titans have the third highest playoff odds, behind the Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers, according to FO. I guess that makes them the third smartest kid in summer school. The Titans have a 28.9% chance of making the playoffs per their formula.

The main reason the Titans are so high on this list is because the AFC South isn't a very good division. Schatz says in his article that their projections don't have any team in the division winning more than 8 games.

FO's projections also really like Marcus Mariota:

Otherwise, the only reason to really recommend the Titans as a playoff team is the presence of the talented Marcus Mariota. Our stat projection system sees Tennessee as a team on the rise because our QBASE projection system loved Mariota so much. On the other hand, Mike Mularkey has a lousy head-coaching record, and his plan to build the Titans' offense around "exotic smashmouth" football seems stuck in the '70s and simultaneously misunderstanding Mariota's skill set.

There's that false narrative again.