From Woeful to Walk-Off: Titans Surprise Us With Rally for 22-21 Win in Arizona

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GLENDALE, Ariz. – Rants were written and social media was ablaze.

Through three quarters, Cam Ward and the Titans played to their typical level – quite terribly. The rookie quarterback was completing 38 percent of his passes, and while Elic Ayomanor had killed two series with third-down drops and not everyone was helping, Ward’s inaccuracy as the defense’s failures were the major culprits.

The Titans were well on their way to 0-5 and an 11-game losing streak that would be the franchise’s worst since 1994.

Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward (1) looks to throw a pass during the second half of an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Cam Ward came alive in the fourth quarter/ ASSOCIATED PRESS

Then, finally, came the sort of sparks the team has been looking for so fruitlessly. Their opponent made two crucial errors and Ward and his teammates dialed things up, way up. The Titans, a terrible fourth-quarter team, came alive for the final 15 minutes, scoring 16 unanswered points and walking off State Farm Stadium with a 22-21 win following Joey Slye’s 29-yard field goal as time expired.

“Sometimes you need a game like that to buy in and double down even more,” Tyler Lockett said of the team’s first win since Nov. 24, 2024, a 32-27 at Houston.

“It’s huge because it feels like the football gods have been against us in a lot of ways, too,” Peter Skoronski said. “It’s good to finally get a couple breaks in the game. That’s a good feeling and we also took those and made plays off of them, so that’s just doing what you’ve got to do to win and we did that.”

Through three quarters, I was hardly alone in thinking the woeful Titans had a real Ward issue. There were problems everywhere, just like in the first three weeks, but his had moved very much to the forefront.

Brian Callahan spoke after four games about how it wasn’t enough time to suggest a rookie was regressing. But Ward’s overall completion percentage creeped under 50 and he just felt lost, with no feel for stringing together any rhythm.

The comeback about to unfold was hard to fathom given what the team had shown, the lack BryMakof plays, the general lifelessness, the coaching and now the mounting quarterback issue.

“He had some struggles early and fought his way through it,” Brian Callahan said. “Which is what you have to do as a quarterback in this league. Not every quarter is going to go your way not ever half is going to go your way. He just got reminded at halftime, ‘Just put your eyes where they are supposed to be and make the throws.’ 

“And he worked his way out of a particularly slow start of the game and made the plays when we needed.”

The fourth quarter was a game unto itself.

Five plays in, Cardinals third-string running back Emari Demarcado, the listed starter because of injuries, ran through a giant hole and was on his way to an easy 72-yard score.  

But L’Jarius Sneed gave a good chase and Demarcado let up as he approached the end zone. Sneed didn’t technically affect Demarcado’s arm or the ball. He was not credited with a forced fumble. But he was convinced the back felt his presence and Demarcado let the ball go just before he reached the plane of the goal line in the all-too-familiar premature celebration that has been poisoning football for some time.

Sneed watched the ball roll through the end zone and immediately signaled it was a touchback, and the officials ultimately agreed.

“I knew it was out,” Sneed said,” I just hoped the refs would be on my side. … I definitely influenced it. It was loose in there, so I just took a shot at it.”

Instead of a 28-6 lead for the hosts, the Titans had the ball at the Cards’ 35, still with a chance. They drove 80 yards -- keyed by passes of 13 yards to Ayomanor, 47 yards to Calvin Ridley (the team’s longest play of the season) and 19 yards to Gunnar Helm. That trip was their longest drive of the season and they capped it with a Tony Pollard 1-yard plunge.

Callahan didn’t go for 2, a mistake that compounded itself when Slye missed the PAT on the next touchdown.

But the defense held for a three-and-out and the Titans moved smoothly again, though another good drive looked to die when Ward’s throw from the 20 for Ridley was tipped and picked off by Dadrion Taylor-Demerson. But the safety fumbled it and watched it bounce into the end zone. 

Lockett chased it down and fell on it for a score.

CAM WARD'S GAME BROKEN DOWN

The Titans re-took possession with 1:53 and moved 71 yards.

Ward made what probably ranks as his best throw yet, hitting Ridley up the right side for 38 yards along the way. It had just the right pace, just the right arc and it fell beautifully into the arms of a player who's struggled mightily but wound up with five catches for 131 yards.

Five plays later, they watched Slye hit a walk-off game-winner – the first of his career – as time expired.

“I think the second half I really saw the field better, in terms of just getting the ball out, letting my guys make plays,” Ward said. “It wasn’t really changing my mindset; it was more of me actually doing it. I’ve seen it the same way (the coaches_ see it for the past couple of games. It’s letting my guys make plays, and I think this is the first time I did that and it paid off for us.

"I wish I would have started better personally. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you start it’s how you finish.”

On the three drives that positioned them for their three fourth-quarter scores, the Titans gained 192 yards. That's more than they gained in their entire games against Denver, the Rams and Houston.

You can’t see anything there but progress and positives.

It’ll make for a different week at MetroCenter. The question is whether it will make for carryover to Las Vegas.