In style, the next Chargers opponent has all the finesse of a sledgehammer.

The Tennessee Titans love to run the football. Coach Mike Mularkey, a former NFL tight end, calls their brand “exotic smash-mouth.”

The day he took the job, replacing Chargers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt a year ago this week, Mularkey talked tough. He said Titans opponents would know “they’ve been in a fight.”

The Titans (4-4) just went 3-1 in the season’s second quarter, giving them more victories this year than either of their two most recent predecessors.


No Titans team has won in San Diego, an 0-5 streak dating to 1998, and in the game this Sunday (1:25 p.m.) at Qualcomm Stadium, the Chargers (3-5) are 5.5-point favorites to improve to 9-1 overall versus Tennessee.

The Titans’ only victory in the series came against coach Mike McCoy’s first Chargers team, which fell 20-17 at Nashville in 2013.

Hammer away

Titans rookie General Manager Jon Robinson worked under New England Patriots boss Bill Belichick and shares an affection for large, physical players.

Titans blockers include two tackles (Taylor Lewan and rookie Jack Conklin) drafted in the first round and a 254-pound rookie fullback (Jalston Fowler). The lead running backs are rejuvenated but toe-challenged DeMarco Murray (4.7 yards per carry, 8 touchdowns) and 247-pound rookie Derrick Henry (4.2, 1), who with Fowler played at Alabama under Nick Saban.


Tennessee leads the NFL in rushing attempts. Over the past three games, the Titans have run the ball on over 53 percent of their offensive plays. They’re 11th in yards per carry at 4.9.

“Exotic” refers to Mularkey’s love of gadget plays – his nickname as play-caller of the Pittsburgh Steelers was Inspector Gadget – but also describes quarterback Marcus Mariota.

Mariota grew up in Hawaii. Does that count as exotic?

For a quarterback, he’s very fast.


So, for the Chargers, the preparation challenge takes on new dimensions, despite their having faced the Titans three months ago in an exhibition.

Chargers defenders have faced no team this year as dedicated to the run as Tennessee, which, coming off a 36-22 win over the Jaguars last Thursday, will have three extra days of rest.

The Bolts, who’ve faced the fifth-fewest run attempts and are seventh against the run (3.7 yards per carry), have only one “full contact” practice to prep a run defense that will be lacking linebacker Jatavis Brown (knee) and could be without linebacker Denzel Perryman (hamstring).

Good luck simulating Mariota’s foot speed and athleticism.


At the 2015 NFL Scouting Combine, Mariota ran the 40-yard dash in the same time – 4.52 seconds – as future Chargers RB Melvin Gordon despite outweighing him by seven pounds. Mariota’s 10-yard split, 1.57, was faster by .05.

Mariota, who ran 87 yards for a touchdown as a rookie, is a pass-first quarterback who throws well on the run. The extra dimension is that he gains 6.9 yards per carry.

Medical question

Murray exited the recent game with a toe injury. Though he returned, Mularkey described his status for this week as day to day.

The 28-year-old former Cowboy and Eagle, an offseason trade acquisition of Robinson’s, leads Tennessee in rushing yards per game (94.5) and shares the team lead in receptions (28) with TE Delanie Walker.


Mariota connection

Mariota has trained in San Diego and received pointers from Philip Rivers.

Within a few weeks of the 2015 draft, Chargers talent man Tom Telesco and McCoy held a workout for Mariota during a visit to the University of Oregon.

Chess master

Titans defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, 79, is in his 58th year in the NFL as a player or coach.

LeBeau, who joined Whisenhunt’s staff before the 2015 season, devises an array of blitzes and zone defenses. Defensively, the Titans are 10th in yards and 18th in points. Their last four opponents have rushed for under 85 yards.


Bottom line

Rivers, the starter in San Diego’s past 168 games, provides the Bolts their lone large advantage, yet make no mistake: Mariota outshines Jake Locker, who led the Titans against the Chargers in 2012 and 2013.

Locker was a great athlete who should’ve been a safety. Mariota, who has a completion rate of 63.3 percent and a passer rating of 95.1, is a comparable athlete yet far more accurate than Locker.

Once again, the outcome figures to be in doubt late in the fourth quarter.

Tom.Krasovic@SDUnionTribune.com; Twitter: SDUTKrasovic