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It's time to respect the Titans. Maybe not as a Super Bowl contender after going one-and-done in the previous two postseasons as a No. 1 seed, but certainly their entire body of work under Mike Vrabel. This team flat out wins and rarely gets the credit, whether in the media or betting market.

The Titans are currently a home underdog against the equally hot Bengals despite Tennessee winning seven of its last eight games, and covering in all eight. They were surprisingly underdogs before smashing the struggling Packers in Week 11, and have played more games as an underdog than favorite this year. They nearly won in Kansas City with their backup QB Malik Willis as a 14-point underdog.

They will be overshadowed, and an underdog, in each of their next two games against the Bengals and Eagles. Which also means they have a chance to exceed expectations again, and perhaps earn well-deserved attention that's starting to come their way.

They are currently as good of a bet as it comes, yet hardly have the numbers to show for it. They have covered the spread in eight straight games, the longest active streak in the NFL. According to Caesars Sportsbook, less than half the money wagered has been on the Titans to cover in six of those eight games. That's also the way it's trending this week, as 61% of the money is on the Bengals as of Thursday afternoon.

PCT OF MONEY BET ON TITANS TO COVER DURING 8-GAME WIN STREAK

Week 3 vs. Raiders

22%

Week 4 at Colts

41%

Week 5 at Commanders

75%

Week 7 vs. Colts

44%

Week 8 at Texans

78%

Week 9 at Chiefs

44%

Week 10 vs. Broncos

21%

Week 11 at Packers

28%

Part of the reason the Titans are overlooked is because they lack star power outside of Derrick Henry. They have a good quarterback, but not a star quarterback. They also don't exactly win in style. According to the CBS Sports research team, they are the only team since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger to cover in eight straight games within a season without scoring 28+ points during the streak. In the words of Al Davis, "Just win baby!" They grind out wins. It ain't sexy, but it gets the job done.

The gap between their results and the perception of the Titans only continues to widen, according to the CBS Sports research team. Consider that only the Chiefs have a better record than the Titans (19-8) since the start of last season. Yet, Tennessee's average spread (+0.3) ranks 19th in the NFL over that span. Nine of their 19 wins have come as an underdog.

Vrabel made his feelings on the underdog mentality clear during the Titans' 2019 playoff run. "I try to spend the majority of my time preparing the team the best that I can. I think for those of us that have been around this league long enough, I think that's kind of overrated — the underdog thing. It's pro football. Everybody gets paid. Everybody has a job to do." Perhaps it's this mentality that makes Vrabel and the Titans so good.

Overachieving has been the one constant since the Titans hired Vrabel in 2018. Vrabel is 20-15 straight up as an underdog in his coaching career, second-best by any head coach since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, behind George Allen (Allen coached Washington, and the Rams, in the 70s). Vrabel has done so by navigating plenty of adversity in his five seasons. In 2019, the Titans benched Marcus Mariota, the 2015 No. 2 overall pick, in favor of Ryan Tannehill. In 2021, Vrabel won NFL Coach of the Year after Tennessee got the top seed in the AFC following injuries to Derrick Henry and A.J. Brown in the second half of the season. And in 2022, they are 7-3 after trading A.J. Brown this offseason. Their top offensive lineman (Taylor Lewan) and top pass rusher (Harold Landry) are also out for the season, and Ryan Tannehill missed two games.

If the Titans continue doing what they've been doing, Vrabel also has a nice piece of history in front of him. Tennessee needs to win three of its final seven games to go over its preseason Over-Under win total of nine. They've already hit the over in each of Mike Vrabel's first four seasons as their head coach.

Dating to 1989, when this data is first available on sportsoddshistory.com, the only head coaches to start a coaching tenure with a team hitting the over in their first five seasons is Andy Reid, Tony Dungy and Tom Coughlin. Only Coughlin did it in his first five seasons as a head coach. Both Dungy and Reid had previous NFL head coaching experience prior to their stretches. 

WENT OVER PRESEASON WIN TOTAL IN 5 STRAIGHT SEASONS TO START COACHING TENURE

Andy Reid (2013-20 Chiefs)

8

Tony Dungy (2002-08 Colts)

7

Tom Coughlin (1995-99 Jaguars

5

There's no telling if the Titans will make a deep playoff run like in 2019, or have an early exit like in 2020 or 2021. But just being in position to make noise in the playoffs yet again is quite an accomplishment that should start making more waves around the league.

As for this week, you can justify the Titans as home underdogs after losing to Cincinnati in the playoffs in Nashville last season. The Bengals are also hot, winning six of their last eight games and covering in all but one. But one more nugget from the CBS Sports research team. The Titans last played on Thursday night in Week 11 in Green Bay. Tennessee is 9-0 straight up and against the spread with at least eight days of rest under Vrabel in the regular season.