Sportsnaut
Through the first four weeks of the NFL season, several head coaches are already on the hot seat, including the New York Giants’ Brian Daboll, Miami Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel, Carolina Panthers’ Dave Canales and Cleveland Browns’ Kevin Stefanski. However, one NFL reporter is predicting the first firing of the season will happen with an AFC South team.
The Athletic’s national NFL writer Mike Jones believes Tennessee Titans’ Brian Callahan will be the first one canned this season, especially with rookie quarterback Cam Ward’s damning “If we keep it a buck right now, we a**,” comment. The Titans are 0-4 and have been held to 20 points or fewer in every game, including getting shut out in Week 4 against the Houston Texans.
“Year 2 on Callahan’s watch hasn’t produced signs of improvement and the former offensive coordinator’s team is so bad on that side of the ball (just 12.8 points and 210.5 yards per game) that the coach turned over play-calling duties to quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree, who didn’t do any better,” Jones wrote. “There were some around the league who wondered if Callahan would have made it to Year 2 after last year’s struggles, but he got another crack at it. But will he make it through the season?”
Through his first 21 games of his head coaching tenure, Callahan is just 3-18 after taking over for Mike Vrabel, who was surprisingly fired after the 2023 season.
Callahan, who was previously the offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals, was expected to upgrade an offense that ranked 26th in points in both 2022 and 2023. That has yet to come to fruition as the Titans now rank 32nd in scoring.
The Titans will look to change their ways in Week 5’s road matchup against the Arizona Cardinals, but if they continue to struggle, Callahan could soon be out of a job.
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