Mike Vrabel adds layer to Titans’ already spiraling head coach search

Vrabel’s latest win with the Patriots has to hurt for Titans fans.

Buck Reising — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer

Jan 18, 2026 6:18 PM EST

NASHVILLE — Mike Vrabel has the New England Patriots back in the AFC Championship game after a 28-16 victory in the Divisional Round against the visiting Houston Texans. Two years and nine days removed from firing Vrabel, the Tennessee Titans organization is still trying to justify the move as they search for a third head coach in as many years.

Vrabel’s win is a twist of the knife for Tennessee fans, who are already publicly spiraling over their potential head coach options.

Vrabel is back on football’s biggest stage, leading another franchise deep into January while the organization that fired him continues to drift. For controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk, the sight should be mortifying. It is a public reminder that the Titans didn’t just lose a coach — they discarded one of the few proven winners this franchise has ever known.

Mike Vrabel didn’t fail in Tennessee

He dragged a limited roster to three straight playoff appearances.

He beat Tom Brady in Foxborough in New England’s last playoff appearance before Vrabel’s arrival this year. He won Coach of the Year in 2021 and is the favorite to win it again this season. He built a culture that made Tennessee matter in January.

When the roster eroded, when injuries mounted, when the front office whiffed on foundational picks, and he tried to exert some level of control over the club’s direction, Vrabel became the scapegoat.

That decision now looks as hollow as the thousands of empty seats at Nissan Stadium.

The Titans sold the idea that change was necessary to modernize, to evolve, to build something better. What they actually did was remove the one stabilizing force in a crumbling operation. Vrabel went elsewhere and immediately reminded the league what competence looks like. Tennessee replaced him with uncertainty and rhetoric.

Owners rarely admit mistakes. Adams Strunk has certainly faced no accountability for the decision. Her mistake is playing out on national television.

The Titans aren’t rebuilding from scratch; they’re rebuilding from a self-inflicted wound.

Watching Vrabel coach in another AFC Championship should sting. It should linger. It should force accountability at the very top. This isn’t about missing the playoffs after consecutive 3-14 finishes in 2024 and 2025. It’s about watching excellence thrive somewhere else after you decided it wasn’t good enough.

That’s not bad luck. That’s bad ownership.