NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- In 2023, the Titans finished with six wins and drafted seventh overall.
Six teams were as bad or worse than they were.
At 2-7 they’ve not gotten any better and are on track to be worse under a new coach and staff, with a slew of new players, many of them costly veterans, and with a front office with redefined powers.
Turnaround can come fast in the NFL but that has not happened in Music City.
Let’s compare what’s unfolding here to what’s going on with the other six teams that were the bottom of the 2023 NFL.
Carolina Panthers
2023 Record: 2-15
2024 Record: 3-7
Draft pick: They traded away what turned out to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft in order to position themselves to select Bryce Young in 2023. Young was benched in favor of Andy Dalton in Week 3 after two games with a completion rate under 56 percent, three interceptions and no TDs.
Coaching: Fired interim Chris Tabor and hired Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Dave Canales.
Direction: Just beat the Saints and the Giants in consecutive weeks but they’re a mess.
Washington Commanders
2023 Record: 4-13
2024 Record: 7-3
Draft pick: Jayden Daniels had thrown for nine touchdowns and two interceptions while averaging 8.2 yards per attempt, the sixth-best mark in the NFL.
Coaching: Replaced Ron Rivera with Dan Quinn, who brought in Kliff Kingsbury as his offensive coordinator.
Direction: Way up after eight non-winning seasons and no playoff appearance since 2015.
New England Patriots
2023 Record: 4-13
2024 Record: 3-7
Draft Pick: Drake Maye started as the backup and has shown promise since taking over. But he’s got poor protection and unthreatening weapons. New England looks to have its quarterback and just needs time to surround him.
Coaching: After an unprecedented run of success, the organization parted ways with Bill Belichick and promoted Jerod Mayo who seems to have weathered early questions about the locker room’s commitment to him.
Direction: Maye gives them hope but things are moving slowly. I mean, they lost to the Titans.
Arizona Cardinals
2023 Record: 4-13
2024 Record: 6-4
Draft Pick: Marvin Harrison Jr. is tied for fourth in the NFL with six touchdown catches and he’s 18th with 15.1 yards per reception for the resurgent Kyler Murray.
Coaching: Jonathan Gannon has a healthier QB in his second season and he and GM Monte Ossenfort could be seen as an example of why the Titans should stay the course in Year Two of Brian Callahan-Ran Carthon, even though it will technically be Year 3 of Carthon.
Direction: Way up. They are two wins ahead of last season and in first place in the NFL West with seven games to play.
Los Angeles Chargers
2023 Record: 5-12
2024 Record: 6-3
Draft Pick: Joe Alt is part of a line that’s made room for the NFL’s 19th rushing offense and has allowed nearly three sacks a game. Still, he’s gotten good reviews and is looked at as a foundational piece.
Coaching: Hired proven winner Jim Harbaugh to replace Brandon Staley and interim Giff Smith and are getting the disciplined team that figured out how to win that comes with Harbaugh. They’ve not played good teams, so more will be determined in the coming weeks.
Direction: Already surpassed last year’s win total with eight more to play, so definitely trending up. Right now, they’ve got the sixth playoff spot, not even that seventh one which goes to a junk team. The only team behind them that’s impressive is Cincinnati.
New York Giants
2023 Record: 6-11
2024 Record: 2-8
Draft Pick: Malik Nabers has missed two games but has 61 catches for 607 yards with three touchdowns and has displayed great upside despite terrible quarterbacking.
Coaching: Brian Daboll is in his third year. The widespread presumption is that it will be his last. Does he finish the season or do John Mara and Steve Tisch get a head start on finding their next guy with an early firing?
Direction: Further down. The Cowboys are completely dysfunctional. They are 3-6 to the Giants 2-8 with a home loss to Dallas.
Tennessee Titans
2023 Record: 6-11
2024 Record: 2-7
Draft Pick: JC Latham was the second offensive tackle after Alt. He's been good and growing and looks like he' should hold down the position for some time. The need was desperate. But even after a huge free-agent and trade haul the Titans still have holes at right tackle and edge and a shaky second-year QB.
Coaching: Brian Callahan looked like one of the next young, hot offensive minds. But his stuff hasn't translated to this point as his team scores 17.4 points a game, 7.3 points per second half and 2.9 points per fourth quarter.
Direction: Down. They won six in the season that got Mike Vrabel fired and they are on pace for 3.8 without much of an identity or culture.
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So what does this tell us about the Titans?
Four of the other six worst teams from last year – the Commanders, Cardinals, Chargers and Panthers – have already topped last year’s win total.
The Titans have to win five of eight to accomplish that. There is zero reason to expect that considering they face Minnesota (7-2), Houston twice (6-4) and Washington (7-3) as well as Cincinnati, which has scored 30.7 points per game in its last three.
The Panthers are a bad team, but they'd already found an additional win. They started from a far worse place and didn't add the top 
pick that would have typically come with their league-worse 2023 season.
Washington and New England added potentially transformational quarterbacks, and the Chargers got a proven transformational coach. The Titans used their high pick on a left tackle who looks very solid. They are riding with an iffy QB and with a rookie head coach and offensive play-caller, as well as a defensive coordinator who's also a first-time play-caller.
Arizona's pivot point has been a healthy Kyler Murray. They were 1-8 without him last year and he now has Harrison.
The Titans looked for expenditures on veterans to help them make a jump. They signed players to $324 in total contracts, per Over the Cap, $64 million more than the second team on this list, Carolina. They lined up $197 million in total guarantees, $58 million more than Carolina. And they are handing out $16 million more in first-year cash than Washington.