Titans lose their luster

It’s no great shock that the Kansas City Chiefs, St. Louis Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 0-5 this season. They all made coaching changes and shook up their front offices as well.

But how to explain the winless Tennessee Titans? A year ago, the Titans streaked to a 10-0 start, made the 1972 Dolphins keep a cork on their champagne until Nov. 23, and finished with the best regular-season record in the NFL at 13-3.

Prospects for winning their first game of the season don’t appear bright today. The Titans are 9 1/2 -point underdogs at New England.

The Titans lost a pair of three-point games to start the season – 13-10 at Pittsburgh when kicker Rob Bironas missed field-goal tries of 37 and 31 yards, and 34-31 to Houston. That was followed by a 24-17 loss at the New York Jets.

Afterward, the Titans were barely competitive, losing by 20 at Jacksonville and by 22 last week at home to Indianapolis.

“Last year, we got off to a good start, and winning kind of breeds winning,” head coach Jeff Fisher said. “We had games last year that in the start were close that we won. We had an overtime game that we won, and it was just one of those things.”

Around the league

The FBI says it investigated reported threats to former Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards after he allegedly punched a man outside a downtown night club. … The Titans will be without both starting cornerbacks against New England after changing Cortland Finnegan’s status from questionable to out. Nick Harper already was out after breaking his right arm last week in a 31-9 loss to Indianapolis.