Titans vs. Vikings: 5 burning questions

When the Titans take to the field Sunday at Nissan Stadium to face Minnesota, they’ll be looking for their fourth consecutive opening-day victory.

The Titans won at Pittsburgh in 2013, at Kansas City in 2014 and at Tampa Bay in 2015 before all those seasons eventually turned sour.

Can the Titans get off to another good start Sunday against the Vikings?

Here are five burning questions for Tennessee in anticipation of the season opener:

What should we expect from Mariota 2.0?

Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota produced a strong rookie season last year, throwing for more than 2,800 yards and posting a quarterback rating of 91.5. He also had an excellent preseason, completing 23 of 31 passes and guiding four straight scoring drives in his last appearance.

But Mariota enters this season wanting to improve in at least a couple of areas. First, he wants to cut down on turnovers after being intercepted 10 times and losing six fumbles in 12 games. Second, he wants to be more accurate when throwing the ball deep down the field.

Mariota has three new receivers at his disposal — veterans Andre Johnson and Rishard Matthews as well as rookie Tajae Sharpe — so it will be interesting to see how they click in the regular season.

Can Titans running game really be this good?

The Titans finished 25th in the league in the run game last year. No Titans running back has topped 100 yards in a game since Chris Johnson did so in December of 2013.

So what the Titans did this preseason — averaging 161 rushing yards per game, second-best in the NFL — was eye-opening to say the least. DeMarco Murray averaged 8.1 yards per carry and Derrick Henry 6.4 per carry in those preseason games.

Will the Titans’ offseason acquisitions at running back and on the offensive line — Ben Jones, Jack Conklin — really turn production around significantly in one season, or are these just inflated preseason numbers?

Can the defense really be this bad?

The Titans’ pass defense was the NFL’s worst in the preseason, allowing 251 yards per game and six touchdown passes. San Diego’s Philip Rivers, Carolina’s Cam Newton and Oakland’s Derek Carr all made the secondary look bad before leaving the game.

The good news for the Titans is that Minnesota probably won’t be throwing the football all over the field, now that starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is out for the season. The challenging news is that Vikings running back Adrian Peterson — who ran for 1,485 yards and 11 touchdowns last year — will provide a huge test for the Titans’ run defense.

Which Vikings quarterback will Titans face?

Will Minnesota start Sam Bradford, acquired over the weekend from Philadelphia in exchange for a first- and fourth-round draft pick? Or will it be veteran Shaun Hill, who was the backup to injured Bridgewater?

If Bradford starts, he probably would be operating on a limited game plan, having had a handful of days to learn the Minnesota offense.

Bradford, the first overall pick in the 2010 draft, is coming off a good preseason for the Eagles, one in which he completed 32 of 40 passes for 285 yards, compiling a 102.6 quarterback rating.

But don’t underestimate the 36-year-old Hill if he winds up starting. The last time Hill played at Nissan Stadium, he turned in a great 2012 relief appearance for Detroit’s Matthew Stafford, completing 10 of 13 passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns — and very nearly leading the Lions to a late comeback victory.

What atmosphere should we expect?

The Titans went just 1-7 at home last year, and there were plenty of times — especially late in games — that Nissan Stadium felt more like a road venue because of the large number of happy traveling fans.

But the many offseason moves of general manager Jon Robinson, and the preseason success of Mike Mularkey’s team, seem to have generated a good deal of excitement for a club that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2008.

Can the Titans capitalize on that buzz and start creating a home-field advantage once again? Sunday will be the first test.

Reach John Glennon on Twitter @glennonsports.