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The Tennessee Titans shook up the NFL landscape by firing head coach Brian Callahan. After a 1-5 start to the season, the team will be looking for a new face to lead the team.

Tennessee Titans beat writer Easton Freeze highlighted why the Titans decided to pull the plug on firing Callahan now, before Mike Vrabel’s New England Patriots return to Nashville:

Why did the Titans fire Callahan? “This is a move that is only surprising in terms of timing, not the outcome. The end of the Callahan regime was easy to spot over the horizon less than a month into the 2025 season. That’s how bad things had quickly gotten. The bottom line is that coaching miscues were a big story in two of the first three games of the year, and Callahan ‘chose’ to hand over play-calling duties to QB coach Bo Hardegree before the end of September. The canaries in this coal mine have been dropping dead left and right.

“Another reason to fire a coach in-season is if they are actively hurting the team’s chances on gameday with game management. This was clearly an area of concern in the first couple of games, but since handing off play-calling duties, there really haven’t been any massive game-management stories that have dominated the narrative. And if you want to say the play-calling was hamstringing this young quarterback, well, that wasn’t Callahan’s doing any longer. That got taken away from him, which materially changed absolutely nothing.

“So why now? What caused this? What led to owner Amy Adams Strunk further bolstering her ugly reputation for impatience, instability, and incompetence? She is keenly aware of what she’s infamous for in the eyes of the public, and I know she’s wanted to shake that reputation. But she isn’t beating the allegations here!”

Who replaces Callahan in the short term? “In the immediate aftermath of this news, I’ve now heard from two different people inside the Titans building that there doesn’t appear to be an actual interim head coach plan in place.

“The Titans will name one eventually, with STC Bones Fassell, DC Dennard Wilson, and senior offensive assistant Mike McCoy as the leading internal candidates. But to not have a plan reeks of ownership, making this call. So why assemble the brain trust and pull this plug in Week 7?

“It’s hard not to think the answer is, at least in part, Mike Vrabel. The former Titans head coach is headed to town with his Patriots this weekend to take out any pent-up anger he has on this hapless Titans team. Cynically, why would you want to give him the satisfaction of taking his replacement out behind the woodshed? Except it wouldn’t have the dignity of privacy behind a proverbial woodshed, it would be in the proverbial living room of Adams Strunk’s own home: Nissan Stadium, on television, in the light of day.

“The Titans know it’s liable to be ugly. Vrabel is ruthless, and the Titans are touchdown underdogs at home. If there were ever a game to try to capture the artificial ‘fired coach’ bump that teams seem to experience in these cases, a game against the Patriots would be a nice time to do so!

“This also softens the narrative of timing if the Callahan firing had come after a loss to the Patriots. Adams Strunk will never beat the allegations of allowing A.J. Brown’s thrashing of the Titans’ defense in Philadelphia to lead to the firing of GM Jon Robinson two days later. That’s a particularly ugly, petty, foolish look for an owner. And if she’d (at least seemed) to do it again because of a loss to Vrabel, well, that’s a whole lot uglier a look than ripping off the bandaid now.”

‘I hate it’ – The Titans broke one of Peyton Manning’s biggest rules: Zach Ragan broke down how the firing broke one of Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning’s biggest rules:

“Firing Callahan is obviously not the outcome that anyone in Nashville was hoping for when the 2025 season started. Callahan’s dismissal is especially unfortunate for the franchise because the Titans selected quarterback Cam Ward with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning has said numerous times in the past that NFL teams shouldn’t take a quarterback early in the draft if there’s any chance that the head coach or offensive coordinator will be fired in the quarterback’s rookie season.

“Essentially, Manning thinks that a quarterback who sees his head coach get fired during his rookie season suffers a developmental setback. It’s certainly not an ideal situation. But it’s the situation that Ward is now in with the Titans. The franchise needs to have a better plan moving forward than it had when it drafted Ward in April. Because so far, the Titans haven’t helped Ward develop at all. If anything, the opposite is happening.”

Top candidates for next Titans head coach

Of course, the biggest question on everyone’s mind is who the next head coach will be. Easton Freeze named the top 10 coaches who could be in line for the newly opened Titans head coaching position. Here are a few notables:

Mike McCarthy: “Currently taking the year off from coaching after parting ways with the Cowboys last year, McCarthy would be a high-floor move to inject stability into a franchise that desperately needs it. He’s 169–104–2 all-time with two different franchises, and he has a Super Bowl ring. Is he perfect? No. But he clearly knows how to do the job.”

Joe Brady: “Brady is likely the top candidate among would-be first-time head coaches. He’s the Bills’ offensive coordinator and has been an integral part of Buffalo’s offense, helping maintain an elite floor and making Josh Allen an MVP force to be reckoned with.”

Mike Kafka: “Kafka is the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach for the Giants, and has been a hot name during coach interview season for a full presidential term at this point. He’s highly respected as a head coaching candidate around the league, despite the Giants’ lack of success. If Jaxson Dart finishes an impressive rookie season, his role in shepherding the young QB could boost his stock.”

Kliff Kingsbury: “Kingsbury is the offensive coordinator for Jayden Daniels in Washington, and his ability as an offensive mind is unquestioned. He would be a head coach retread after a four-year stint in Arizona that yielded limited success. But many head coaches in history have looked a lot better on the second try, when they’re older, wiser, and have learned from failing once before.

Arthur Smith: “Another retread option is Arthur Smith, who would be a familiar face in Nashville. He got his first head coaching opportunity in Atlanta after finding so much success as OC for the Titans, but that three-year run didn’t go well. He’s the OC in Pittsburgh with Mike Tomlin and Aaron Rodgers, and he’s on track to re-enter the head coach discussion.”

All that’s left to do is wait. It’s been a whirlwind for Titans fans through the early portion of the season. After Callahan’s firing, there’s a lot that’s up in the air for the organization.

Tennessee Titans News

Instant hot board of 10 candidates for next Tennessee Titans head coach after the firing of Brian Callahan

The ten candidates to keep an eye on this fall for the Titans next head coaching hire after firing Brian Callahan

Easton Freeze

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