So you always hope to be competitive in big games, but also to avoid a play that will haunt you for a long time. The Titans were the former in their win-and-in showdown with the Jaguars on Saturday, but the price was the latter.

The depleted, not-very-good Titans punched above their weight in a way that didn’t feel sustainable for much of the game. They ended up with more first downs and yards — with a third-stringer who had been with the team less than three weeks as quarterback against a franchise quarterback coming into his own in the person of Trevor Lawrence.

But with about three minutes left and a chance to grind down the clock with the lead, quarterback Joshua Dobbs got hit almost in the act of passing. Another inch or two of forward motion would have made it an incomplete pass when the ball left his hand. Instead, it was a fumble that bounced exactly the wrong way and was returned for a touchdown.

If the outcome didn’t surprise me, the way it happened will stick with me as a memorable low in my long-running Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans fandom.

Oh, well. Pitchers and catchers report in about a month.