NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans know change is coming once this season is finished, and the challenge now is staying focused on the finale.
After all, they won't get another chance to string together consecutive wins until the 2026 season starts.
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Tennessee Titans tight end Chig Okonkwo breaks away from New Orleans Saints cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry on a touchdown reception in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John Amis)
Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward (1) is tripped up by New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan (94) on the last play of the game, in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John Amis)
Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons talks to reporters after an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Tennessee Titans wide receiver Elic Ayomanor (5) celebrates his touchdown reception with quarterback Cam Ward (1) in the first half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Tennessee Titans wide receiver Elic Ayomanor (5) reacts after losing to the New Orleans Saints in an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
The Titans missed out once again on winning back-to-back games with their home finale loss to the New Orleans Saints, continuing a drought that stretches back to November 2022. Worse, they blew a 13-point lead in losing 34-26 to the Saints.
Four-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons was surprised when interim coach Mike McCoy told the Titans just how long it had been since the team won two games in a row.
“We can’t stack no more wins right now, we’ve just got to focus on this last one against Jacksonville," Simmons said. "When we get ready to come back this offseason and leading up to next year, it’s going to be different.”
A loss from matching last season's record at 3-14 has hidden the Titans' reasons for optimism.
Cam Ward has thrown for 3,117 yards, becoming the first rookie with a 3,000-yard passing season in franchise history and the first to top 3,000 yards since Ryan Tannehill in 2021. Ward has 15 touchdown passes with seven interceptions, and eight TDs have come over the past four games with only one pick.
McCoy said Ward again had some “wow plays” showing he can make the easy and really difficult plays.
Ward wants to finish with a win that would be Tennessee's third in the final five games.
“The best thing about this team is that we know change is coming,” Ward said after the loss to the Saints. “Change is coming in seven days.”
The Titans are putting points on the board. They managed to score at least 20 only three times through the first 10 games, a big reason they won only once in that stretch. Now the Titans have scored at least 24 points in five of the past six games.
The only time the Titans didn't score at least 24 points in this stretch was Nov. 30 in a 25-3 loss to the Jaguars.
The defense. The Titans limited New Orleans to just 92 yards and 10 points by halftime. The Saints rolled over them in the second half, outscoring them 24-6 and piling up yards. The Titans missed too many tackles, including on a 32-yard TD run with 3:44 left that turned a one-point deficit into the final score.
It doesn't help that the Titans' secondary had two starters traded away early this season and battered by injuries since. They lost cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis on the third play to an Achilles tendon injury.
Tight end Chig Okonkwo. He shook off a would-be tackle after picking up a first down on a fourth-and-2 toss from Ward, and he turned the play into a 43-yard TD. Okonkwo leads the Titans with 54 catches for 558 yards.
Ward had done a good job protecting the ball better when being smothered by pass rushers. He hadn't fumbled in four of the previous five games. Against the Saints, he fumbled twice. The first was taken away by Chase Young, who ran 33 yards for a TD to jumpstart New Orleans' comeback.
The second came on the final play of the game when Ward couldn't throw the ball before fumbling.
“Anytime you’re in a Hail Mary situation at the end of the game, we got to find a way to get that ball out,” McCoy said Monday. “Whether it’s stepping up in the pocket, letting that ball go, whatever you’ve got to do, we’ve got to find an opportunity to give ourselves a chance to go up and get that ball.”
Armour-Davis (Achilles tendon) and WR Van Jefferson (forearm) will be recovering into the offseason.
55 — The times Ward has been sacked as a rookie, most of any quarterback with 16 games played this season.
Try to spoil the playoff seeding and AFC South title hopes for the Jaguars (12-4) or wind up matching last season's record at 3-14. The only wrinkle is the Titans likely can pick no higher than fourth overall in the 2026 draft.
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Tennessee Titans tight end Chig Okonkwo breaks away from New Orleans Saints cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry on a touchdown reception in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John Amis)
Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward (1) is tripped up by New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan (94) on the last play of the game, in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John Amis)
Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons talks to reporters after an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Tennessee Titans wide receiver Elic Ayomanor (5) celebrates his touchdown reception with quarterback Cam Ward (1) in the first half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Tennessee Titans wide receiver Elic Ayomanor (5) reacts after losing to the New Orleans Saints in an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump warned Iran against reconstituting its nuclear program Monday as he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his home in Florida for wide-ranging talks.
The warning comes after Trump has insisted that Tehran's nuclear capabilities were “completely and fully obliterated” by U.S. strikes on key nuclear enrichment sites in June. But Israeli officials have been quoted in local media expressing concern about Iran rebuilding its supply of long-range missiles capable of striking Israel.
“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again,” Trump told reporters soon after Netanyahu arrived at his Mar-a-Lago estate. “And if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down. We'll knock them down. We'll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”
Iran has insisted that it is no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program. But Netanyahu was expected to discuss with Trump the need to potentially take new military action against Tehran just months after launching a 12-day war on Iran.
Trump criticized Iran anew for not making a deal to completely disarm its nuclear program ahead of the U.S. and Israeli strikes earlier this year.
“They wish they made that deal,” Trump said.
Netanyahu's visit also comes at another critical moment in Gaza as Trump looks to create fresh momentum for the U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas ceasefire that is in danger of stalling before reaching the complicated second phase of the agreement.
Trump, with Netanyahu by his side, said he wants to get to the second phase “as quickly as we can.”
“But there has to be a disarming of Hamas,” Trump added.
Before his talks with Trump, Netanyahu met separately with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that Trump championed has mostly held, but progress has slowed recently. Both sides accuse each other of violations, and divisions have emerged among the U.S., Israel and Arab countries about the path forward.
The truce's first phase began in October, days after the two-year anniversary of the initial Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people. All but one of the 251 hostages taken then have been released, alive or dead.
The Israeli leader has signaled he is in no rush to move forward with the next phase as long as the remains of Ran Gvili are still in Gaza.
Gvili’s parents met with Netanyahu as well as Rubio, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in Florida on Monday. The Gvilis are expected to meet with Trump later in the day, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group that advocates for families of abductees of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
“They’re waiting for their son to come home," Trump said of the family of the young police officer known affectionately as “Rani,”
The family, according to the group, is looking “to ensure there will be no transition to Phase 2 of the agreement until Hamas fulfills its Phase 1 commitments and returns Ran home.”
Trump’s 20-point plan — which was approved by the U.N. Security Council — lays out an ambitious vision for ending Hamas’ rule of Gaza.
The path ahead is certainly complicated.
If successful, the second phase would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision by a group chaired by Trump and known as the Board of Peace. The Palestinians would form a “technocratic, apolitical” committee to run daily affairs in Gaza, under Board of Peace supervision.
It further calls for normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world and a possible pathway to Palestinian independence. Then there are thorny logistical and humanitarian questions, including rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza, disarming Hamas and creating a security apparatus called the International Stabilization Force.
The Board of Peace would oversee Gaza’s reconstruction under a two-year, renewable U.N. mandate. Its members had been expected to be named by the end of the year, but the announcement could be pushed into next month.
The leaders' meeting comes after Witkoff and Kushner recently huddled in Florida with officials from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, which have been mediating the ceasefire.
Two main challenges have complicated moving to the second phase, according to an official who was briefed on those meetings. Israeli officials have been taking a lot of time to vet and approve members of the Palestinian technocratic committee from a list given to them by the mediators, and Israel continues its military strikes.
Trump’s plan also calls for the stabilization force, proposed as a multinational body, to maintain security. But it, too, has yet to be formed. Whether details will be forthcoming after Monday's meeting is unclear.
A Western diplomat said there is a “huge gulf” between the U.S.-Israeli understanding of the force's mandate and that of other major countries in the region, as well as European governments.
All spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that haven't been made public.
The U.S. and Israel want the force to have a “commanding role” in security duties, including disarming Hamas and other militant groups. But countries being courted to contribute troops fear that mandate will make it an “occupation force,” the diplomat said.
Hamas has said it is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons but insists it has a right to armed resistance as long as Israel occupies Palestinian territory. One U.S. official said a potential plan might be to offer cash incentives in exchange for weapons, echoing a “buyback” program Witkoff has previously floated.
Trump also renewed his call on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to grant Netanyahu, who is in the midst of a corruption trial, a pardon.
Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial, after being charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases accusing him of exchanging favors with wealthy political supporters.
Trump has previously written to Herzog to urge a pardon and advocated for one during his October speech before the Knesset.
“He’s a wartime prime minister who’s a hero. How do you not give a pardon?" Trump said.
Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Washington and Lee Keath and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump greets Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks before a luncheon with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listens as President Donald Trump speaks before a luncheon at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are seated before a luncheon at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump listens as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an arrival at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks during a NORAD, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Tracks Santa Operation call at his Mar-a-Lago club, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint press conference after a trilateral meeting with Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Citadel of David Hotel in Jerusalem, Monday Dec. 22, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)
Amal Matar, 65, sits next to the oven as she cooks for her family in the Al-Shati camp, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinian youth walk along a tent camp for displaced people as the sun sets in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
