Titans veteran delivered the best sales pitch to keep Mike Vrabel
NASHVILLE — Of all the reasons to keep Mike Vrabel as Tennessee Titans head coach, the locker room culture he has built in Nashville is at the very top. The coaches who are consistently succesful in the NFL and capable of surviving roster turnover are the ones that can maintain team morale through difficult times. […]
NASHVILLE — Of all the reasons to keep Mike Vrabel as Tennessee Titans head coach, the locker room culture he has built in Nashville is at the very top.
The coaches who are consistently succesful in the NFL and capable of surviving roster turnover are the ones that can maintain team morale through difficult times. These are coaches that get buy-in from their players, even during losing seasons.
Titans veteran cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting spoke to the media on Monday and gave a ringing endorsement to that buy-in existing within the Titans family.
"I think all year guys were resilient and guys showed up to work. Win, lose, or draw, they made it fun. That's just the coaches, that's the players, that's everybody in the building. That's really a testament to how this program is," said Murphy-Bunting while reflecting on the season the Titans had.
"When you're in an environment and you're not winning, it can be toxic. It can be long days and frustrating days. Frustrating hours of just constant losing. I didn't feel that here. Even when we were losing, I still felt like guys were locked in and had something to work for. I still feel like that now."
This is the type of thing that speaks volumes to me about Mike Vrabel as an NFL head coach. It's easy to be a player's coach when things are going well. It's easy to have fun and have culture when you're winning. It's a different challenge entirely to maintain that same locker room chemistry when the team is struggling on the field.
Just look at the Philadelphia Eagles and Nick Sirianni. This time last year, he was a hero in the city and A.J. Brown was doing podcast appearances talking about how much more fun he was having in Philly. Now, things are spiraling out of control and the disconnect between Siranni and his players could lead to his firing if they don't win a playoff game.
It's easy to have fun at 10-1. It's a lot harder when you've lost five of your last six and choked the division away.
Mike Vrabel, during a 6-11 season, was able to keep his players prepared, motivated, and together. Players like SMB, who weren't even on the roster in 2022, were fired up about getting revenge on the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 18. The Titans never lost their energy or motivation to play for one another. That's a reflection of strong leaders in the locker room and a head coach that is consistent in his messaging. That culture is built to last.
Firing Mike Vrabel at this juncture, or even letting him go in a trade with the New England Patriots, would be premature and foolish.
Vrabel has all the making of a head coach who is going to last and succeed in this league for another decade. Amy Adams Strunk and Titans ownership should give him the opportunity to do that in Nashville and fix things rather than watch him thrive elsewhere.
The Baltimore Ravens could have fired John Harbaugh in 2015 when they went 5-11. But they didn't and have since returned to being a perennial playoff threat.
The Buffalo Bills could have fired Sean McDermott when they regressed to 6-10 in Josh Allen's rookie season. But they didn't and they've now won double-digit games in five consecutive seasons.
On the other hand, the Philadelphia Eagles fired both Doug Pederson (2020) and Andy Reid (2012) after uncharacteristic losing seasons and have since regretted both of those moves.
Continuity in coaching not only matters for the development of players on the field, it also matters for building your culture behind closed doors. The Titans culture under Mike Vrabel is one that can, has, and will win. Take it from Murphy-Bunting if you don't want to take it from me.
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