Tennessee Titans

The Titans added a pair of safeties to their 53-man roster on Tuesday.

They announced that they have signed Erick Hallett off of the Lions’ practice squad and Sanoussi Kane off of the Ravens’ practice squad. They will help replace a trio of safeties that landed on injured reserve. Xavier Woods, Mike Brown, and rookie Kevin Winston will not play again this season as a result of the move.

Hallett played in three games and started twice for Detroit this season. He had 18 tackles in those appearances.

Kane appeared in seven games for the Ravens and saw almost all of his playing time on special teams. He had one tackle this year and also had nine tackles in 15 games last year.

Woods signed a two-year deal with Tennessee this offseason and Winston was a third-round pick. Brown is in his third season in Tennessee and made nine appearances this year.

Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons returned from Sunday’s game against the 49ers to find that his home had been burglarized while he was away.

Simmons posted about the break-in on social media after posting seven tackles, a sack and his second career touchdown catch in the Titans’ 37-24 loss. Metro Nashville Police Department confirmed that “multiple items were taken” when a group of six people broke into the house.

“Team security is actively working with Metro Nashville Police Department to recover items stolen from Jeff Simmons’ house,” the Titans said in a statement, via ESPN.com. “No residents were home during the burglary.”

Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders’ home was burglarized during a game earlier this season and a number of other athletes have dealt with similar break-ins in recent years.

The 49ers scored on their first five possessions and seven of eight in the game, with only a fumble marring their streak.

They won 37-24 for their fourth consecutive victory.

The 49ers improved to 10-4, while the Titans fell to 2-12.

San Francisco outgained Tennessee 430 to 306, going 9-of-15 on third down. Brock Purdy was 23-of-30 for 295 yards and three touchdowns. He threw a 4-yard score to Jauan Jennings, a 1-yarder to George Kittle and a 13-yarder to Jennings.

Purdy also lost a fumble.

Ricky Pearsall caught six passes for 96 yards but left late in the game with an undisclosed injury. Kittle caught eight passes for 88 yards and Jennings three for 37.

Christian McCaffrey had 22 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown.

The Titans hung tough, with Cam Ward completing 18 of 29 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns. Defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Ward, and Gunnar Helm had a 34-yard score.

Tony Pollard rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.

The Titans are down three safeties heading into the second half of Sunday’s game against the 49ers.

They have ruled out Mike Brown (ankle), Kevin Winston Jr. (hamstring) and Xavier Woods (hamstring).

Tight end Gunnar Helm (toe) was questionable, but he has returned to the game.

The 49ers opened the second half with a four-play, 67-yard touchdown drive to take a 24-10 lead. They have scored on their first four possessions for the first time since Sept. 10, 2023.

Jauan Jennings scored his second touchdown on a 13-yard reception. He has only two catches.

Ricky Pearsall had the big play in the drive with a 38-yard reception.

The 49ers are didn’t overwhelm the Titans in the first half, but they do lead 17-10 at halftime.

San Francisco outgained Tennessee 179 to 173.

Brock Purdy has completed 10 of 15 passes for 135 yards and a touchdown. He threw a 4-yard score to Jauan Jennings. George Kittle has four catches for 63.

Christian McCaffrey, who was questionable to play scored on a 1-yard run and has eight carries for 23 yards.

The 49ers scored touchdowns on their first two possessions. But they settled for a red-zone field goal late in the first half, stalling at the Tennessee 15. Eddy Pineiro’s 33-yard field goal with 56 seconds left in the half gave the 49ers their final points of the half.

The Titans have made it a game by scoring on two of their final three possessions of the half before Joey Slye missed a 50-yard field goal try on the final play of the half.

Cam Ward is 10-of-15 for 106 yards and a touchdown, a 34-yard pass to Gunnar Helm. Tony Pollard had eight carries for 57 yards.

The 49ers are dominating the Titans, as they should, with a 14-3 lead early in the second quarter.

Christian McCaffrey scored the team’s latest touchdown on a 1-yard run to complete a seven-play, 70-yard drive.

Jauan Jennings scored the 49ers’ first touchdown on a 4-yard reception from Brock Purdy.

The 49ers have outgained the Titans 138 to 86 thus far.

Purdy is 7-of-9 for 104 yards with a touchdown, and McCaffrey has seven carries for 24 yards and a touchdown. George Kittle has three catches for 56 yards.

The 49ers added a questionable designation for running back Christian McCaffrey to their injury report on Saturday, but it doesn’t look like they will have to go without him against the Titans.

McCaffrey was added to the report with a back issue and multiple reports say that he will be in the lineup at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday afternoon. McCaffrey also dealt with an illness during the week, but he was a full participant in practice on Friday.

McCaffrey has not missed a game this season. He has 237 carries for 849 yards and eight touchdowns to go with 85 receptions for 806 yards with five touchdowns. He is third in the league in yards from scrimmage behind Bijan Robinson and Jonathan Taylor.

The 49ers are coming off their bye week in third place in the NFC West with a 9-4 record.

The 49ers may not have one of their best offensive players when they host the Titans on Sunday.

San Francisco announced on Saturday afternoon that running back Christian McCaffrey has been added to the injury report as questionable with a back issue.

McCaffrey did not practice on Wednesday as usual for a veteran’s rest day. He was then limited on Thursday with an illness, but was a full participant on Friday and initially carried no game status.

McCaffrey has started all 13 games so far this season and leads the league with 322 touches. He’s currently on pace to finish the season with over 1,000 yards rushing and receiving, which would make him the only player to accomplish that feat twice.

McCaffrey has rushed for 849 yards with eight touchdowns and caught 85 passes for 806 yards with five TDs.

In a season featuring few reasons to mention the Titans, a team sideline reporter has made a headline for mentioning something he heard on the Titans’ plane.

Via Ben Axelrod of AwfulAnnouncing.com (citing Paul Kuharsky), Will Boling has been removed from the team’s charter flights going forward. Boling’s offense was to share something he’d witnessed on the trip home from Cleveland after a Week 14 win.

Boling had shared, per Axelrod, that Titans defensive end Arden Key commandeered the plane’s intercom system to tell his teammates to ignore comments quarterback Cam Ward made after the victory.

“On Monday, I told a story about a comment I heard on the Titans’ team charter,” Boling said in an appearance on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville. “And I want to apologize for sharing something that should have remained private and totally off the record. I totally understand the team plane and bus are sacred places for players, for coaches, for members of the organization. I take full accountability. I broke their trust with that team by sharing details that were not mine to share. Moving forward, I will work to regain that trust. I sincerely apologize.”

Trust, as they say, is earned in drops and squandered in buckets. Still, it seems Boling has learned a valuable lesson about zipping it, especially since it seems to be a transgression less about malice and more about naiveté.

Especially since what he shared was fairly innocuous.

With NFL teams possibly planning to swoop in on South Bend, Notre Dame is scrambling to keep coach Marcus Freeman.

Here’s the reality: Teams with vacancies are permitted to interview him now (if they haven’t already).

Those teams are the Titans and Giants. There’s no requirement for those teams to announce or even to disclose that they have interviewed Freeman.

That’s the rule as it relates to any coach who currently isn’t working for another NFL team. The mad dash to request permission to interview assistant coaches comes after the regular-season ends. Paperwork is filed with the league office, and the official inquiries inevitably, if not immediately, are leaked to reporters who are employed by the league.

For unemployed coaches and/or current college coaches, there’s no external paper trail.

Whether Freeman would be interested in the Titans or the Giants is unknown. Both teams have been dysfunctional in recent years, with revolving doors and chronic struggles. It could be a hard sell to get Freeman interested in either job.

Freeman also can be discreetly contacted by teams that have yet to fire their current head coaches, with no league rules violated. As the end of the 2025 regular season approaches, teams that know they’ll be making a change will be (or should be) trying to identify all potential candidates. Freeman and/or his representation can be contacted without consequence.

Given that Notre Dame has made clear its desire to keep Freeman, he doesn’t have to rush for the first bad opportunity in the NFL. He can wait, if he wants, for a good, stable job to come upon. The Steelers or the Ravens, for example, would be attractive, since both teams have kept their current coaches for 19 and 18 years, respectively.

And what if Andy Reid retires in the next few years? Who wouldn’t want to coach Patrick Mahomes — even if the rest of the roster currently needs plenty of work?

Regardless, the potential pursuit of Freeman isn’t something that must wait until the regular season ends. It can begin right away, and the teams that are talking to him can keep it as quiet as they choose.