Titans aren’t admitting it, but there’s extra layer of hidden motivation on the line in Week 6 for the Callahan family

Brian Callahan laughed it off when I asked him if this weekend is a grudge match. “Generally not, no,” he said. “The faces change and there’s a lot of things that are— everywhere is different after a couple years. So yeah, I certainly want to go win that’s the part of it, but not for any— there’s no personal reasons there. I want our team to go 1-0 this week.”

No personal reasons, is that right Brian? I’m only half-joking when I say, I’m not sure I believe you! Because not only do the Tennessee Titans have a shocking number of former Raiders on their payroll, but Brian and Bill Callahan have a lengthy history with Pete Carroll… and it isn’t pretty!

Pete Carroll Kind Of Owns The Callahans?

I jokingly asked Brian Callahan about this being a grudge match on Wednesday at the end of his press conference after he mentioned how many current Titans are also former Raiders. “Yeah, we got a lot of Raiders on our staff,” he explained. “A lot of guys that have spent a lot of time there. I was in high school when my dad was there. They had a lot of success over those years. And those were kind of my first— I was a fan. I was a fan of the team. And I was always excited to go. It was great environments to go play when they were at the Coliseum in Oakland. Then I got a chance to go coach there for a year. And yeah, I have kind of fond memories and that silver and black and those gamedays and some of the wins over the years when I was following along as a high school kid and spending time there. So yeah, great, great place. Great memories for me overall. I had a chance to go work there as well. And then you got a lot of guys on our staff that spent a lot years, between Nick Holz and Travis Smith and Tom Jones and my dad’s been there for a while. And I’m sure there’s other guys, but we have some guys that have long histories there.”

Here’s more context than you asked for: It wasn’t until right after that presser that I talked about this with my friend and colleague Nick Suss at The Tennessean, and he astutely pointed out that the real grudge match here was between the Callahan’s and Pete Carroll. For some reason, Bill and Brian Callahan’s football paths have been inextricably tied to Pete Carroll at nearly every stop for some reason. And for the most part, he’s had their number.

Suss is who sat there and did the research on this as we discussed it, so I’d like to shout out the Thursday edition of “A Football Show” he does each week that I always tune in for. He laid out this research on this week’s episode, as well as a bunch of other great bits of Titans analysis, so go check that out. Now, here’s the story:

Bill and Brian Callahan have faced a Pete Carroll team 20 times in total. They’re 5-15 against him. Collectively, they’ve been outscored 567-326. This includes Brian as a player and then a grad assistant at UCLA when Carroll was rolling with his USC superpower (brutal time to be at UCLA!). It also includes Bill Callahan at Nebraska, various assistant coaching matchups in the NFL, and Pete beating Brian’s (Peyton Manning’s) Broncos like a drum in Super Bowl 48.

Brian Callahan has lost to Pete Carroll in every football job he’s ever held except for when he coached a high school team! He’s lost to him as a player at UCLA and as a GA at UCLA. When he was with the Lions, they had to play and lose to Pete Carroll. Same thing in Cincinnati and in Denver. He was only with the Raiders one season, and guess what? They had to play and lose to the Seahawks that year too!

Now Brian finally lands a head coaching gig of his own in Tennessee, and thankfully Pete Carroll has retired. The bad man can’t hurt you any longer. Except, no, this is a classic slasher sequel. The boogeyman is back from the dead, and he’s coaching the Raiders now. The Raiders, who you must travel to play on the road this season. Best of luck exercising that demon, Brian!