Brian Callahan Postmortem: A decision forced on former coach made the Titans worse before his firing

Fact: Brian Callahan stopped calling plays, and the Titans offense has done significantly less.

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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When Brian Callahan had play calling taken away from him after just three weeks this season, the writing was on the wall. His firing felt like a question of when, not if. And it wasn’t but three more weeks of his leadership before Amy Adams Strunk sent him packing, just 23 games into his tenure as head coach.

QB coach Bo Hardegree has been calling plays since Week 4. This change was billed at the time as a move that would enable everybody to do their jobs better. Callahan could focus on game management duties and oversee the entire operation. And Hardegree’s experience calling plays for the Raiders a couple years back looked like something that could spark some life for the Titans offense.

In hindsight, it hasn’t. The Titans’ offensive production has gone down in the wake of this change, and it’s happened against lesser opponents. Here’s where we stand nearly two months in:

Taking play calling from Brian Callahan was always a mistake

I wrote about this decision back when it was made, lamenting it as shortsighted change for the sake of change. Now a month later, the numbers back this up.

The Titans’ first three games, in which Callahan called plays, were against the now 5-2 Broncos, 5-2 Rams, and 6-1 Colts. Today, Denver and Los Angeles are first and second in the league in sack efficiency. They’re also both top five on third downs. And the Colts have turned out to be the juggernaut the league didn’t see coming. But all of that is to say, we knew somewhat then and certainly know now how difficult that start was.

The Titans averaged a pedestrian 17 points per game in those contests. It was certainly nothing to write home about, even against tough teams. Then play calling duties were changed, and things got demonstrably worse.

The Titans offense has averaged 11.25 points per game in the month since the switch. They’ve been shut out in a full half of football in three of their four outings. One of the precious few touchdowns they’ve managed in this span was the interception-fumble-touchdown miracle in Arizona.

I’m not here to tell you Callahan was the solution. But I am here to seriously question if the current setup with Hardegree is a suitable answer. I’m not reactionary enough to think he can’t improve as a play caller down the stretch of the season, and I expect he’ll be given that opportunity. But it seems utterly clear to me today what felt right at the time of the change: this was pointless move. It didn’t serve the team. It just served those desperate to see a switch, and the result has been worse offensive output against worse football teams. 17ppg against the Broncos, Rams, and Colts sure as heck beats 11.25ppg against the Texans, Cardinals, Raiders, and Patriots.

The truth is that the Titans have six (6) drives to hang their hats on offensively since the switch. That’s it. The final three drives in the Arizona comeback game, and the first three drives in the eventual Patriots stomping last weekend. Both outbursts of actual offensive life were promptly proven to be fleeting. Inconsequential blips on the big picture radar. Hardegree and the rest of this remaining offensive group, coaches and players alike, simply have to show better than they have since Callahan’s decision-making was taken out of play. Because so far, they’ve gone in the wrong direction.

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