NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Marcus Mariota didn’t finish the season where he wanted to.

Rather than leading the Tennessee Titans to their win over Houston in their finale, he was in a Nissan Stadium suite with his family, where he visited with fans at halftime.

Bess Warren and Nathan Stoffer were among Titans fans at Nissan Stadium who met Marcus... https://t.co/WPnnSbatrK pic.twitter.com/okhbTKBMkO — Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) January 2, 2017

His surgically repaired right leg rests on a scooter, and coach Mike Mularkey said the quarterback’s leg cannot bear any weight for the first two months of what’s expected to be a four- to five-month rehabilitation.

Controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said she was crushed to see Mariota’s leg fold in the third quarter of the team’s Christmas Eve loss in Jacksonville.

“I was so emotional, and when I talked to him that night my voice was all cracking and he was like, ‘Amy, it’s OK,” she said. “He’s a huge person and personality for our team, and to have him go out like that ...

“He had a wonderful season and he’s just going to come back stronger.”

Mariota can get more consistent and needs to work on issues that surface periodically on throws to his right.

But he’s a fantastic player in the red zone, his decision-making got quicker, he connected on more deep balls. The team has every reason to feel great about his game and the direction he is heading.

“I thought he played faster, made quicker decisions, got the ball out quicker, made some really good decisions to throw it away,” Titans coach Mike Mularkey said. “I thought he got better with his ball security. That's something we'll always be working on, there's no question about that, because that had an effect on some of our losses. But he did a lot of good things for this football team."

His teammates are fervent believers in Mariota, who is immensely popular with them for the way he carries himself and plays.

“I have like no worry in the world,” left tackle Taylor Lewan said. “I think Marcus is going to come back, he’s going to be better next year, he’s going to be a Pro Bowler next year, and he’s going to be in the Super Bowl.”

“I don’t know what Marcus’ weaknesses are that people talk about, but those will go away. Marcus has another year to establish who he is as a player, be the guy that he’s been for us, another year to be more consistent. I think he’s going to answer all the questions that people have for him.”