Wide receiver Chimere Dike is the first Tennessee Titans player to find the end zone on a punt return since Darius Reynaud back in 2012.

Dike returned a punt 67 yards in the first quarter to give the Titans a 14-3 lead in the first quarter of the team’s Week 9 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. Dike spoke about what it felt like to get his first touchdown on a punt return.

“Oh, it’s good. I mean, I think that — I’m more happy for our unit. We talk about it all the time. So, those guys work their tail off for me every Sunday. Finally do my job and finish off the run and get into the endzone,” Dike said postgame.

Dike nearly scored a touchdown earlier in the season, but it was called back after a penalty from linebacker Cedric Gray. This time, the special teams unit prevailed as Dike got his score.

“Yeah, in a meeting him and KB (Kendell Brooks), we talked about it as a unit, we’ve been increasing teams and having explosive returns, but you know we wanted to have a spark for the offense and the rest of the team and put it in a box, so to be able to do that it felt good,” Dike said of the special teams unit.

Dike has been getting snaps at wide receiver and special teams and it has led to him leading the league in all-purpose yards over the course of the first half of the season. He has a knack for getting strong returns.

“I caught it, I saw the gunners were both split, both of the zeros did a really good job. It was a one-on-one with their net, then he got missed and then popped out to the right. And I saw about three rip by and then a bunch of blue jerseys. I knew it was a touchdown,” Dike said of his scoring play.

Despite Dike’s efforts, the Titans lost the game to fall to 1-8 on the season. They now advance to the bye week, where they will have a chance to correct some errors.

“Yeah, I mean, I think the penalties in first half were really big,” Dike said. “I think just the negative plays, right? We’re running the football really well, but getting behind the sticks is tough. And I’m sure we’re going to look back and there’s other things. But I think that comes to mind.”

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The Tennessee Titans have developed an unfortunate weekly expectation, especially since the early-season firing of second-year head coach Brian Callahan, that a loss is imminent. It’s the sort of thing that plagues only the worst teams in the NFL; franchises that have not only lost direction, but that have no clear pathway in place to find it once more.

At 1-8, Tennessee defines this broken state, and their latest game against the Los Angeles Chargers only further evidenced their conundrum.

In a 27-20 home loss – admittedly, one of the team’s closer games in recent memory – the Titans ultimately failed to keep pace with Justin Herbert and the Chargers offense, despite making remarkable progress in that direction in the game’s earliest trends.

Out mulitiple key players ahead of the trade deadline, the Titans’ “nearly there” performance looks that much more impressive given the team’s current state. Then again, with their aforementioned record being the reality, this isn’t exactly a point in the season in which fans can take solace in moral wins. Even so, if the franchise wants to build something positive in the future, a base is necessary to build such a future from.

The things that Tennessee did well against Los Angeles can be used as that launching point going forward.

On both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, the Titans saw big play breakthroughs from players waiting in the wings. First, while the aforementioned Herbert found himself backed up in Los Angeles territory, Tennessee linebacker Cody Barton jumped on a mistimed pass and took it back for the Titans’ first pick six of the entire season.

The score brought Tennessee a rare sense of momentum, and it wasn’t the only standout play of the day.

Rookie wideout and special teams sensation Chimere Dike, having already received conference player of the week honors for that latter ability, ran back a kick for a touchdown of his own. That’s two Tennessee scores driven by non-offensive plays.

Considering the team’s final 20-point tally, the discrepancy clearly lies in the inability of the team’s scoring unit to put points on the board.

As frustrating as that is for the franchise, having budding playmakers elsewhere is certainly a positive worth pointing to as just about everything else seems to go south. If nothing else, the team can hold onto moments like these until a new coach kicks down the doors and, hopefully, begins to right the ship for the long-term.

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