Titans QB Will Levis after first loss of NFL career: 'Losing sucks'

Will Levis, who was on top of the football world last weekend, now knows the NFL despair. He and the Titans lost to the Steelers, with his final pass intercepted in the end zone by a Pittsburgh linebacker.

And who knows, he may return to second team quarterback by next week.

Levis, the former Kentucky star, made his second straight start at quarterback for the Titans Thursday night. After throwing four touchdowns to help beat the Falcons, he was on the losing end to the Steelers. And the 20-16 on the scoreboard pained his rookie soul.

“Losing sucks, especially at this level,” Will Levis told reporters in post game. “It’s hard to win games. And when you get an opportunity like that to win at the end and it doesn’t happen, makes you feel a whole lot worse.

“Credit to them — they made the plays when they needed to, and we didn’t.”

Levis had the Titans in a position for a possible win if the quarterback could complete one final pass. Tennessee faced a third-and-five from the Steelers 19 with less than 10 seconds to go in the game. But Kwon Alexander picked off the pass intended for tight end Josh Whylie. It was the only time Levis threw his way the entire game.

“The last one, I was just trying to make a play and how it could’ve turned out differently,” Will Levis said. “I didn’t make the play. I’ll do my best to make it next time.”

But will there be a next time any time soon? Will Levis was playing for an injured Ryan Tannehill. In Levis’ first start, he dazzled with his long passes. Only two other rookies have thrown four touchdown passes in their premieres. Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton did so with the Vikings in 1961. And Marcus Mariota pulled off the achievement in 2015 with the Titans.

Once the team got back to Nashville, coach Mike Vrabel didn’t sound so enthusiastic about Will Levis. He declined to say Friday whether Levis would continue to start or whether Tannehill (ankle sprain) would return to the lineup. Levis completed 22 of his 39 passes for 262 yards Thursday. The Steelers defense sacked him four times.

“No, not ready to do that yet,” Vrabel said. “I think we’ll have a conversation (about) the depth chart over the weekend. And we’ll have a depth chart or something close to it available when we talk (to the press) on Tuesday to be able to go through the moving parts and not only Ryan’s health” but also the offensive line.

Vrabel said “nobody did a good enough job. Again, there were some good plays. I think that there was some, some decisions that we can’t make. Throwing the ball in cover two down the sidelines isn’t going to be very advantageous, offensively, if you’re trying to take care of football.”