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When the Tennessee Titans fired Mike Vrabel at the end of the 2023 season and hired former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, they hoped to improve an offense that ranked 27th in scoring. Coach Callahan’s first season didn’t lead to any improvement.
The Titans actually got worse. Vrabel led the Titans to a 6-11 record in 2023 with an offense that ranked 27th in scoring and a defense that ranked 16th in points allowed. Callahan led the Titans to a 3-14 record, featuring the NFL’s 27th-ranked offense and 30th-ranked defense, but some extra room for error was understood for a first-year coach.
Last year saw the Titans start Will Levis for 12 games and Mason Rudolph for four; the former got two wins, and the latter got the other. But now that the offensive-minded Callahan has the 2025 NFL Draft’s No. 1 overall pick as his quarterback, expectations naturally heightened a bit.
Yet, through four games, Cam Ward very much looks like a rookie, and the rest of Callahan’s team isn’t improved either. The Titans are still winless, they rank dead last in scoring, and now 28th in points allowed. How long is Callahan’s leash now?
ESPN’s Dan Graziano predicts that the Titans will give Callahan two full seasons before rushing to a decision on his coaching future.
Graziano was willing to leave open the possibility of Callahan still getting canned, potentially in a few weeks or even days, as he mentioned. As we’ve seen before, plans can change quickly in the NFL, especially if the losses continue rolling in.
Fans are already fed up with what they’re seeing on the field. We can’t imagine things are much different at the ownership level or in the front office. Yet, there’s no guarantee that making any sort of in-season change will lead to drastically different results either. For now, the Titans have the NFL’s worst point differential. If that trend continues, questions about Callahan’s job security are bound to increase.
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