How Cam Ward can make dubious NFL history if Titans lose to Colts originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Through five weeks of the 2026 NFL season, the Tennessee Titans are 0-5, with plenty of issues all across the roster. The Titans' CEO even apologized to fans ahead of Week 6 against the Indianapolis Colts.
Things aren't going well for the Titans, and one of the biggest areas of concern for this team is quarterback Cam Ward. He's not shown enough to start his NFL career, and there's real worry he might be a bust.
As ESPN Research shared, Ward is one loss in Week 6 to the Colts away from joining some dubious NFL history that wouldn't bode well for his odds of turning into a good franchise quarterback for the Titans.
How Cam Ward can make NFL history with loss to the Colts
"If Cam Ward and the Titans lose to the Colts, he'd be the fifth QB to lose his first eight games against division opponents since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970," ESPN Research shared. "The last was Colt McCoy with the Browns in 2010-11."
Facing the 2-3 Colts in Week 6, the 0-5 Titans badly need a win. Not only do they need it to have any sort of confidence for the rest of the 2026 season, but it's a massive game for Ward as well.
He can lose this game and still turn into a good quarterback, but a loss to the Colts would have him joining some dubious NFL history that doesn't exactly bode well for Ward avoiding a bust label.
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Despite the AFC South being a weaker division as a whole, the Titans haven't been able to get a win with Ward under center yet against the Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, or Houston Texans.
One more AFC South loss, which could come in Week 6 against the Colts, and Ward would join only four other quarterbacks in the last 56 years to start their NFL career with eight straight losses to divisional opponents.
Ward's already off to a rocky start, and this one game won't dictate how his NFL future will go. But this game is about as must-win of a matchup as an 0-5 team could have.
Seeing Ward join this history would only spark more concern about whether he's the franchise guy or not. Week 6 is a big one for Ward, as avoiding this dubious NFL history would be a sigh of relief for Ward and the Titans in his second NFL season.
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