JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – No running game meant no chance for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offense and quarterback Blake Bortles on Sunday in a 37-16 loss to the visiting Tennessee Titans.

Tennessee’s defensive game plan was to stack the box to stop Leonard Fournette and Chris Ivory and force Bortles to beat them by making him throw. He’s had plenty of success against the Titans in the past, but without wide receiver Allen Robinson, who is out for the season with a torn left ACL, Bortles and the offense couldn’t consistently move the ball.

That’s what it’s going to be like the rest of the season for Bortles if the Jaguars cannot find success on the ground.

The Jaguars’ formula of running the ball, minimizing the reliance on Bortles and playing good defense and special teams worked in the season opener against Houston. But play-action passing doesn’t work when the running game isn’t there. Through three quarters against the Titans, the Jaguars were averaging 3.7 yards per carry, and Fournette was at just 3 per carry. By that time the Jaguars trailed 23-3 and the Jaguars had to abandon the run.

"Ultimately, we have to get the run game started," rookie left tackle Cam Robinson said. "This week, we worked on it, so it’s something that we’ve got to get better at.”

The calls for Bortles’ benching will surely increase this week, but the offense’s struggles were not solely on his shoulders.

Bortles, who had thrown 12 touchdown passes and only two interceptions in six previous games against the Titans, turned the ball over three times. Two weren’t his fault -- he fumbled as he was sacked by Brian Orakpo (who beat rookie left tackle Cam Robinson) and had a pass tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted -- but he also threw behind Marqise Lee and the ball was tipped and intercepted.

He finished 20-of-34 for 223 yards and one touchdown, but the bulk of that came in the fourth quarter. He had only 11 completions and 89 yards passing through three quarters.

The Jaguars hurt themselves with penalties. They had 10 downs on which they had 15 or more yards to go to reach a first down -- including six where they needed 20 or more yards -- in the first three quarters.

Sunday looked a lot like 2016, when everything that could go wrong on offense did. There was no margin for error, the offensive line failed to open much room for the running game, and Bortles wasn’t able to find any kind of rhythm.

"Two picks and a fumble and then the penalties," Bortles said. "You’re playing from behind the sticks and it’s first-and-20, second-and-20, second-and-15. That makes it tough to call plays, tough to execute plays when you are playing from behind the chains like that. I think it was a bit of a combination of both. We were never really able to get anything rolling.”

The Jaguars believed they had solved that issue by drafting Fournette fourth overall this spring and Robinson in the second round in 2014; the pair would allow them to run the ball and control the clock and keep Bortles from having to throw the ball 30-plus times per game (he averaged 37 pass attempts in his career).

After success against Houston (Fournette ran for 100 yards and a TD), players on the offensive line talked about their belief in their ability to be one of the better units in the league even though those outside the locker room doubted they’d be able to hold up against J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus.

It’s clear that if teams stop Fournette, Bortles isn’t able to put the team on his shoulders, especially without his best threat in the pass game. If that’s the case, 2017 has the potential to be a repeat of last season -- yet another with double-digit losses.