Sportsnaut
Some NFL teams look like they’ll have a hard time losing this season. Meanwhile, Brian Callahan’s 0-4 Tennessee Titans look like they’ll have a hard time winning their first game. After all, they headed into Sunday against another winless team, but ended up not just getting beat by more than one possession, they got crushed, shut out even, 26-0.
That’s about as embarrassing as it gets for any team, but it’s nothing new for the 2025 Titans. They have lost three of their first four games by more than one possession, facing an average margin of defeat of 17.2 points per game.
That’s a difference that few teams could overcome, especially when this Titans team hasn’t scored more than 20 points yet this season. They also haven’t limited teams to fewer than 20 either.
At some point, the Titans’ key decision-makers have some questions they’ll want answered. Is 23-year-old No. 1 pick Cam Ward the problem? Or is it time to seriously consider whether Callahan is the right head coach for this franchise? It feels too early to ask, especially considering he’s only 17 games into his NFL head coaching career.
Yet, a 3-17 record, which includes losing his past 10 games, is getting too loud to ignore. Maybe it would be different if the Titans were playing teams closely, but they’ve been outscored by 69 points, the worst point margin in the NFL.
After Sunday’s loss, it didn’t take long for Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio to begin speculating about whether the Titans will move on from coach Callahan on Monday. Firing a coach after Week 4? It feels early, but remember, the Jets fired Robert Saleh after Week 5 last season, so nothing is impossible.
If Callahan did get pushed out of Tennessee, who would replace him for the rest of the season? Florio already had a few ideas, but none of them seem great, which could help buy Callahan more time too.
Callahan hails from the Cincinnati Bengals where he was their offensive coordinator from 2019 to 2023, helping maximize Joe Burrow’s potential as a No. 1 pick. We haven’t seen nearly the same success with Ward.
It’s up to the Titans to determine whether Callahan has been provided with enough to succeed in Tennessee, or if he’s the product of an overall lack of talent, as many expected when the year kicked off. Based on Florio’s speculation, we could have our answers soon enough.
Related: Identifying Tennessee Titans Coaching Candidates to Replace Brian Callahan
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