Titans soul-searching in the desert after difficult loss, preparing for 49ers, playoff push

TEMPE, Ariz. – Delanie Walker fumed in the visitors’ locker room after the Titans’ 12-7 loss to the Cardinals on Sunday at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The star tight end was unhappy with the team’s performance, his own shortcomings – and his immediate destination. The Titans were heading back to the team hotel, where they’d spend the entire week, rather than boarding a flight to Nashville.

“Obviously, I would not want to be in Arizona right now,” Walker said. “We just lost to them, so that’s tough. But it is what it is. We’ve just got to overcome that and get ready for San Francisco.”

Titans coach Mike Mularkey decided before the season that the team would move its operations to the desert between December road games at Arizona and San Francisco, hoping they’d be in position to compete for their first division title and playoff appearance since 2008.

But he didn’t count on the Titans sputtering in a loss to the Cardinals, a defeat that knocked them out of first place in the AFC South with three games to play, making their road to the postseason more difficult than it needed to be, and for some, turning sour a trip that might still provide a breath of fresh air.

“You could look at it however you want to look at it. You know?” Titans wide receiver Rishard Matthews said Wednesday after walking off the practice field at Arizona State University. “Some guys want to go home. Some guys like staying here. It is what it is. We’ve just got to make sure we’re all dialed in and ready come Sunday in San Francisco.”

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Mularkey believed that eschewing the long flights back to Tennessee and out to California, and living in close quarters, would provide the players more time to prepare to face the 49ers and more free time together, allowing teammates to grow closer.

He believed it would make it easier to recover from injuries. He believed the players would benefit from the warm weather, allowing them to practice on grass outside rather than the possibility they’d be forced onto the turf in their practice bubble back home.

All true and sensible.

“I think it’s a positive,” Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota said. “I think it just brings the team closer. When you have to go through a little bit of adversity, when you’re not able to do what you want and things don’t really go your way, you’ve got to look to each other, and I think this is what is happening on this trip and I think it’s what allowed us to come together.”

Players have been hanging out in each other’s hotel rooms. Some spent the off day hiking Camelback Mountain, or checking out Scottsdale. A group attended a game between the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns. The rookies volunteered at a local food bank.

“It’s good, just as long as guys don’t make it a distraction,” said Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan, who’s nursing a lower back injury. “That’s really what matters, is making sure you stay on our schedule or whatever you can keep. Get your massages, get your ice tubs and stuff like that and make sure it all works.”

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Walker described the experience as humbling, and compared practice to high school.

“I think it brought us back a little bit,” Walker said. “When you’re practicing in a $2 million facility and then you come out here and practice on dirt, I think it makes you open your eyes a little bit and get back to the fundamentals of football.”

The Titans must remain within a game of the Jaguars to have a chance to win the division when they host Jacksonville in the regular season finale on New Year’s Eve at Nissan Stadium. Winning a road game against the 49ers is the first step, the next biggest game of the season.

Titans safety Kevin Byard compared this week to practicing for a college bowl game.

“I think us being out here,” Byard said, “getting the extra work in meetings, in film, things like that, it should be an advantage. But we won’t know until we play.”

Reach Jason Wolf at jwolf@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter at @JasonWolf and on Instagram and Snapchat at TitansBeat.

WEEK 15: AT TITANS (8-5) AT 49ERS (3-10)

When: 3:25 p.m., Sunday

TV/radio: CBS / 104.5-FM