NASHVILLE — With only one week remaining in the 2023 Tennessee Titans (5-11) season, coach Mike Vrabel fielded questions about his job status ahead of the team's season finale. Multiple reports and rumors speculating about Vrabel's happiness in Tennessee have been making the rounds after the team's latest loss to the Houston Texans (9-7) in Week 17. 

The Titans have no one to blame for this but themselves. 

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Since hiring general manager Ran Carthon last January, Tennessee's org chart at the top has been nebulous at best. When the Titans introduced Carthon, both he and coach Mike Vrabel harped on the message of collaboration passed down from controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk when she fired Carthon's predecessor Jon Robinson. So much so that, at the time, neither Carthon or Vrabel would acknowledge who among them had final say on the team's personnel. 

"I don’t think (final say) matters," Carthon said last January. "All that comes down to is a matter of ego. Mike and I, we’re here to win together, and we’re going to bring the people in here that we see fit. We’re not going to see it the same way every time, but he and I will have the mutual respect to be able to work through that and we’ll bring in the right people."

Sounds lovely, but how the hell does that work?

No relationship in any professional environment is perfect. Disagreements will always happen and the job of these two individuals at the top of Tennessee's football structure are tasked with compromising in an effort to make the best decision for their team possible. With the Titans sitting at 5-11 and one game remaining in their 2023 season, the results have been mixed at best. 

Tennessee's personnel issues were never going to be corrected in one offseason, but neither Vrabel nor Carthon foresaw just how poorly this year would go. 

It has left everyone covering the NFL outside of Nashville wondering about whether Vrabel is actually happy with the current set-up the Titans have placed him in. It is one where he has more control over his situation than at any other time in his six seasons with the team. A division of labor between Carthon and Vrabel, but built in Vrabel's image as Carthon said was his initial goal, has opened both men up to a level of scrutiny they were probably not prepared for. 

In Carthon's case, much of that criticism has felt pointed and even reckless for a man who got an opportunity to run personnel for one of 32 franchises and is just trying to do the best job that he can. 

Vrabel, meanwhile, has been the subject of speculation for almost the entire season. His former coach, Bill Belichick is likely on the way out of the New England Patriots at year's end and Boston media can't help but try and draw that connection. Titans ownership has been steadfast in their commitment to their coach, but back-to-back losing seasons for the first time in Vrabel's career has only poured fuel on the fire of his job status. 

"No, I don't," said Vrabel on Wednesday when asked if he felt he needed to address the speculation around him with the players currently in Tennessee's locker room. "I don't because again, if we believed everything that was on social media, there’d be Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and there's no Tooth Fairy, and all of that. So, I really have never responded to any of those and we're not going to start now. 

"I know where we're at as an organization. I'm excited to try to build this thing and to fix this thing and get it to where we want it to be; to win championships with Ran (Carthon), and Chad (Brinker), and A Rob (Anthony Robinson), and a coaching staff and everybody. That's what our goal is. But no, just social media and where that is, I can't focus on that."

(on if he wants to be here next year)

"Of course, I want to be here. Be here as long as we can win and as long as we can do this thing. And it's been great, but it also has been just frustrating this year. And nobody wants to be where we're at. You feel for the players, having been in that situation, those guys are out there selling out and you feel for them when you look out there on the field and we're not winning or it's pretty obvious."

The Titans, Vrabel or Carthon have never hidden the idea that this thing is going to be built in the current head coach's image. Right now, it feels like some sort of high school or college class year-long group project. In theory, all parties should share an equal division of labor.

When the product sucks, however, it is fair to wonder which part of that unit is not pulling its weight. 

Featured Image: USA TODAY Sports.