NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans (1-5) fired coach Brian Callahan on Monday following his 19th career loss in 23 games. President of Football Operations Chad Brinker, not controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk, put out a statement on the change of direction.

Strunk has empowered Brinker and President/CEO Burke Nihill to speak on her behalf, remember?

Statement on the Titans’ firing of Brian Callahan

The words do not mean much at this point.

“After extended conversations with our owner and general manager, we met with Brian Callahan this morning to tell him we are making a change at head coach,” Brinker’s statement said. “These decisions are never easy, and they become more difficult when they involve people of great character. We are grateful for Brian’s investment in the Titans and Tennessee community during his tenure as head coach. We thank him and his family for being exemplary ambassadors of the Tennessee Titans.

“While we are committed to a patient and strategic plan to build a sustainable, winning football program, we have not demonstrated sufficient growth. Our players, fans, and community deserve a football team that achieves a standard we are not currently meeting, and we are committed to making the hard decisions necessary to reach and maintain that standard.”

Strunk has now fired two head coaches (Callahan, Mike Vrabel) and two general managers (Jon Robinson, Ran Carthon) since December of 2022.

The line this year was “patience over panic.” No one will fault them for firing Callahan, who was thoroughly ineffective, during the season. The Titans followed up their lone win of the season against Arizona with a 20-10 clunker against the now 2-4 Las Vegas Raiders, after which quarterback Cam Ward and defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons said the team had their worst week of practice heading into Week 6. Intentionally or unintentionally, messaging from your team’s leaders that way raises all the red flags.

Firing Callahan before the 4-2 New England Patriots come to town, coached by Vrabel, is the pettiest and weakest of moves by Tennessee.

The optics of Vrabel, a seven-point road favorite in Week 7, coming to Nashville and beating the tar out of the organization that ran him out of town, is not something the Titans executives were going to stomach. There were football reasons to fire Callahan, of course. In-game gaffes, an offense averaging 13.8 points per game, one first-half touchdown scored this entire season, and a glaring lack of improvement all factor in.

The worst part of all of this nonsense is that Strunk, Nihill, Brinker, and others have been in their positions of power as this entire thing cratered. They were all part of the decision-making that led to the franchise’s failure, and there’s no indication they can be trusted to fix the mess they’ve caused.

This is the Titans Way.

Tennessee Titans News

Brian Callahan’s too honest moment on Cam Ward’s poor play likely contributed to his firing

NASHVILLE — Now-fired Tennessee Titans (1-5) coach Brian Callahan’s record with the club was more than enough to cost him his job. One quote postgame about rookie quarterback Cam Ward’s struggles likely sealed his fate. Week 6 is the earliest a coach has ever been fired in the “Titans Era” of the franchise (1999-present). Cam […]

Buck Reising

Featured Image: USA TODAY Sports.