NASHVILLE — After benching Will Levis in the second half of Sunday’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan faced a number of questions from the media about the teams future at quarterback.

Callahan remained noncommittal in his answers. That's pretty standard for most postgame press conferences. But given Callahan's track record this season, his demeanor after the game on Sunday feels relevant.

This was the first time all season that Callahan had not publicly backed Levis as the team's starting quarterback. Even after early season struggles and injury concerns, Callahan made it clear that the second-year QB would remain the starter when healthy. There was undoubtedly a change of tune on Sunday afternoon.

"Look, I think we'll get through today. I'm not going to make any definitive statements one or the other. We just have to make sure we can correct what we saw on tape and where we had a tough day for him," said Callahan when asked if he still considers Levis his starting quarterback. "Sometimes these things happen where you have a rough day, and you got to get sat down. So, I'm not going to make any statements about it. And we got to see where we can get better and how it worked in the game and where we can improve."

Not exactly a ringing endorsement. And for me, Callahan opting to not back Levis might as well be him backing veteran Mason Rudolph. Let's take a look at what Callahan was saying earlier in the season when Levis was benched with a shoulder injury:

"One hundred percent when Will's healthy, he's our quarterback," said Callahan back in October. "He's our starter when he's healthy and we are ready to roll with him."

That's the polar opposite from Sunday afternoon. Callahan wanted to see what Levis could do when fully healthy. He wanted another chance to develop him and see progress. For a while, it looked like that was happening. But the regression over the last two weeks is really discouraging for Titans fans, coaches, and possible even Levis himself. 

Callahan was never going to create a quarterback controversy where there wasn't one. And so leaving things so open ended on Sunday after a non-injury related benching…feels like it could the the beginning of the end for Levis in two-tone blue. That's not where I thought this was heading. 

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