Titans-Steelers bottom line: Marcus Mariota has to be better

I sat down to write this last night but decided it was best just to go to bed and sleep on it. The Titans had a chance to show they belong on the national stage last night. For a half they were right there, but in the end they showed that they just aren’t ready for prime time.

Marcus Mariota is not the only reason the Titans lost last night. There was bad secondary play, bad game planning on defense, and some questionable effort/route running from receivers, but a franchise quarterback can keep his team in a game even when all of that stuff goes on. Mariota didn’t last night.

I still believe in Marcus, but I am starting to get a little bit concerned about his progression. Last night he missed throws, was late on throws and stared down receivers. He doesn’t look like the same guy from the second half last year.

You saw times last night where he was on a different page than Corey Davis, Taywan Taylor and Jonnu Smith. Some of that is to be expected with so many new guys, but at what point should that stop being an excuse. We are in week 11.

This team is only going to go as far as Mariota will take them. Right now he is only taking them to victories over inferior teams. It is time for him to take that next step and put the team on his back and lead them to a win against a playoff level team.

Hopefully they can work things out over the next month before they end the season with two good teams, the Rams and Jaguars, at Nissan Stadium.