Tennessee Titans (2-7) quarterback Will Levis must give himself every advantage possible at this point in the season. Levis, 25, is fighting each week to prove that he can still be the franchise quarterback in Nashville.
Coming off his best performance of the season in a 27-17 road loss against the Los Angeles Chargers (6-3), there is still much room for improvement.
Will Levis faces his toughest challenge of the season
There are no moral victories in football.
Levis has been embattled all season long, and the road will get no easier in Week 11 when the Minnesota Vikings (7-2) defense comes to Nissan Stadium. Brian Flores' group is first in defensive EPA per play (-0.17), third in success rate (37.9%), first in EPA per rush (-0.26) and first in interception percentage (4.0%). It will not be the first time Levis has seen Flores' scheme, though, despite having never faced Minnesota in a regular season game.
The Vikings hosted Tennessee for joint training camp practices during Levis' rookie year.
"I remember scrambling in there for whatever, 24 hours before our first practice against Minnesota when we got out there just like trying to prepare for all the different looks," Levis said on Wednesday. "And obviously, you're not going to be able to do that jumping into a practice with them that next day. But it was cool to kind of get that, 'Hey, heads up.' This is kind of one of the more crazier defenses that you'll see in this league as you start playing in it and understanding the different types of schemes.
And (Brian) Flores has done a great job wherever he's been to take that and make it his own and try to mess with quarterbacks. I'm going to try to do the best that I can to not let it mess with me."
Levis did leave that joint work in 2023 with an injury that cost him the remainder of his first NFL preseason.
Will Levis took incremental steps forward in his return for the Titans
The bar is incredibly low at this point for the struggling second-year passer.
Completing 18 of his 23 passing attempts for 175 yards and two touchdowns was a solid place for Levis to re-start. Los Angeles was the first start the Titans quarterback has made after a three-week absence due to a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder. Levis was sacked seven times, but did not turn the ball over for the first time in a game this season.
He finished with a quarterback rating of 127.4 against the Chargers, by far Levis' best of the season.
So far, Levis has thrown seven touchdowns against seven interceptions, completing 68.2% of his passes for 874 yards. We did see coach Brian Callahan get Levis more involved with the ground game in Los Angeles with a career-high 41 rushing yards on five attempts.
"The ball came out on time," said Callahan of Levis' outing against the Chargers. "It was accurate. And again, there were some tight window throws that were aggressive in nature. And that's what you want to see from him and quarterbacks in general. But Will (Levis) did a nice job, and I think that will only get better as he plays more. I think he learned some lessons on some of the sacks on when and where you can hold on to it and when you should be quick to get rid of it. And those things, I think, are really big learning experiences for him.
"But I was really pleased with a lot of the things he did in that game. It was a lot of growth from the early part of the season, so hopefully we can continue that. It's a tough test this week against this defense. But I'm confident in where he's at."
Eight more opportunities await Levis to try and make a substantially bigger leap.
Tennessee returns home to host the Minnesota in Week 11. Watch/listen to Titans Radio's pregame coverage starting at 9am CT on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville.
