National NFL insider shares great advice for Amy Adams Strunk that Titans fans know she won’t take

The Tennessee Titans fired head coach Brian Callahan last week after just 23 games at the helm, becoming the first team in 2025 to relieve their coach of his duties.

That marked their fourth head coach or general manager fired in less than three years’ time. It’s been roughly 34 months, or 150 weeks, or 1000 days between the firing of GM Jon Robinson and HC Brian Callahan. And the firings of Mike Vrabel and Ran Carthon were sandwiched between those two moments on this tumultuous timeline.

National sentiments have leaned heavily towards criticism of owner Amy Adams Strunk’s impatience and fostering of chaos in Tennessee. I’ve seen plenty of knowledgeable fans push back on this idea by pointing out that each change has had its own story, and to varying degrees, each person deserved to be fired.

But timing and alignment are everything when it comes to these decisions, and just because a person isn’t working out doesn’t mean firing them at any time is wise. It also doesn’t mean that scapegoating one person at a time and creating fractured timelines with key positions is wise.

The bottom line is that these four separate firings in less than three years are a big fat mark against Adams Strunk and send a crystal-clear message about how she operates. Sports Illustrated Senior NFL Reporter Albert Breer wrote about the Titans’ situation this week in a league roundup article, and the subheading opened with an infuriating line for any fan of this team:

“The next thing Amy Adams Strunk has to give her football people is time,” Breer wrote.

This is obviously true and is sound advice. What makes it so frustrating is that this is nothing new. It was the case this past summer, the year before, and the year before that. She keeps needing to give her people a runway to fix this carcass of a football team, and she keeps failing to do so.

“The Titans’ owner’s issues have been documented over the past week (I chimed in, too). She’s had to face a lot of difficult, yet valid criticism,” Breer continued. “So, as the organization pulls itself from the ashes of the past week (and really the past three years), and charts yet another course to turn things around, it’s on Strunk to trust the people she’s entrusting.”

For Amy to stop this cycle of madness, she needs to crack a children’s book and take a lesson from this time-tested tale.

Amy Adams Strunk has to stop being the scorpion

Have you ever heard the story of The Scorpion And The Frog? It’s a classic fable, and it’s the best way that I can explain what Adams Strunk feels like within her own organization right now. For those unfamiliar, here’s a synopsis:

A scorpion is trying to cross a river, but cannot swim. So, he approaches a frog and asks for a ride to the other side. “No way!” says the frog. “You’re a predator, you’ll sting me, and I’ll die.” The scorpion assures the frog that he won’t sting him. “Why would I do that?” he says. “I would be drowning us both, and I don’t want to drown.”

The frog considers the logic of this mutually-assured destruction and decides to help the scorpion. So he gives him a ride on his back. But halfway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway. Shocked and betrayed, the frog exclaims, “You said you wouldn’t sting me! Now we’re both doomed!” And as they both sank, the scorpion replied. “I’m sorry, frog. I couldn’t help it. It’s in my nature.”

The Titans will not find sustainable success until Adams Strunk stops being the scorpion. She seems genuinely interested in winning, and she (through her spokespeople) seems genuinely interested in the idea of giving her people autonomy and time.

She recognizes the wisdom of patience and stability, and I’m certain she’s aware of how it projects publicly, even as she keeps falling short of those things. She wants a ride to the other side of the river, and she earnestly doesn’t want to sting the frog.