Titans coach was right in controversial postgame comment which is actually what's most concerning

Brian Callahan’s most controversial statement is actually accurate, and damning.

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan studies the field during the first quarter at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024.
© Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tennessee Titans Head Coach Brian Callahan made a pretty controversial comment in his postgame press conference following the Titans' embarrassing loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. "Positive things" was something that came out of his mouth more than once as he reflected on the shocking result, which rubbed many people the wrong way. How could you be thinking about anything positive in the worst home loss since at least 2018?

“There’s a lot of things that things that were good, but no one gives a shit anyways. So we've got to find a way to score more points.” Well, he's at least right about that last part.

Instead of launching into outrage over his choice of words from a narrative standpoint (as so many in this media market have capitalized on already), let's actually judge them by their merits. It's one thing to to say something a bit tone-deaf one presser too early (this is something you should definitely save for Monday from an optics standpoint), but it's another thing entirely to say it if it isn't true. The former is just an ill-advised choice of words, the latter is a concerning level of cope.

So were there a lot of positive things in a 10-6 loss that felt like nothing went right? The answer is, unequivocally, yes! And in a roundabout way, that's the most damning part of this entire performance.

"I know that maybe the choice of words, something 'being positive' in a 10-6 loss wasn't well received." Callahan said on Monday afternoon, as he addressed his inflammatory comments from the day before. But in what was a rather bold move, he proceeded to double and triple down on the idea that his team did a lot of thing well. And he brought the receipts with him:

"I challenged the team to do a lot of things in this game the night before the game, really across the board at all positions. And they really answered the bell in a lot of the phases, on a lot of the things I challenged them on. And that part to me was really encouraging because, to do the things that were asked and rise to the occasion in a lot of the areas that I asked of them was something that was positive to me. And at the end of the day, how do you have so many positive things throughout the course of the game, you hold a team to zero points through three quarters, that's our second lowest rushing total defensively that we've allowed, rush for 126 yards and 4.5ypc, you know we had 4 penalties, we got two turnovers, we didn't turn the ball over, we were 50% on 3rd down… I mean, there were all these things that would point to a game that you should have a chance to win. And we had chances, but the difference was for us in the game was that we had 4 critical plays offensively that we needed to execute in a critical moment and we did not. And that's the difference in the game. It's a game that has a chance to be a 20-10 game."

So was what he said untimely? Yes, that's fair. But it was absolutely correct. The "positive things" going through his head at the podium on Sunday aren't hard to identify once you look past the outrage over the outcome.

Tennessee only had 4 penalties, their 2nd-cleanest game of the year. They've averaged 8 per game, the 2nd-worst in the league.

After their greatest defensive strength turned into a massive weakness against Washington's run game last week, They returned to form with their 2nd-best run defensive performance of the year.

The offensive line had their cleanest day of the year, allowing just 4 or 5 pressures all day (PFF and NGS disagree on the tally). Levis was sacked just twice.

The Titans defense generated 2 turnovers, just the third time they've had multiple turnovers in a game. The offense didn't have any turnovers on their end, just the second time they've done that this year. They won the turnover battle by 2, just the second time they've won it at all.

The Titans special teams were finally normal for an entire game. No issues to speak of.

They had a 50% 3rd down conversion rate. Tennessee is 26th in the league converting on 3rd down this season, doing so on average just 26% of the time. For reference, the best conversion rate in the league right now (Kansas City) is just shy of 52%.

And finally, the defense was far from perfect. But at the end of the day, they held their opponent scoreless for 3+ quarters, and ultimately held them to just 10 points. Every defensive coordinator in the league would sign up for 10 points allowed every week of the year.

All of these things are elements of the game that have plagued the Titans this season, some recently and some nearly all season long. And they all came together in the same game. These are truly positive things! So positive, in fact, they're the first team to lose under most of these conditions since 1920!

But the purpose of this article is not to brush away the Titans loss because they actually did some nice things. Not at all. The point of affirming and identifying all the positive things Brian Callahan was talking about is to point out how damning an offensive performance this was. The fact that the Titans did manage to do so many things well, things they have struggled with mightily this season, and still lose 10-6 to the worst team in the league is a truly devastating result. In order to lose so badly while doing so many things well, there must be at least one corresponding thing you did horribly. And in this game, it was the Titans offense in key moments.

Brian Callahan identified 4 critical failures that cost them the game at his Monday presser, and there were a couple others to boot. Let's go through a couple of them.

First, here's Levis' first opportunity to score a TD in the game. The play is designed to get Chig Okonkwo open on the left. It does so perfectly. Levis somehow doesn't see him. Turnover on downs.

Next, the 2nd opportunity for a touchdown. Levis gives NWI a catchable ball, to be fair. But check out Ridley underneath, wide open for a gimme 1st down and potentially a TD. I don't know for sure what the progression is here, but for Callahan to mention Ridley underneath tells me it's not unreasonable to wonder why Levis didn't even consider him. This pass to NWI is stared down the entire time. He pre-determined it.

This one is on RT Nicholas Petit-Frere, whose only job is to pick up the blitzing DB who he knows is probably coming pre-snap. He also sees him coming for a country mile after the snap! But the rusher hits him with a simple dip and runs right around him to take out Levis. Meanwhile, Chig Okonkwo and Calvin Ridley are both streaking open downfield, breaking to either sideline and putting the safety in conflict. This is an easy 30+ yard gain, and likely a TD if Levis hits Ridley. But NPF's failure blew it up.

The last one we'll look at here (though far from the last example of offensive failures in this game) is a sneaky one. NPF commits one of the two false starts he had in this game, and the play is blown dead. But check out the motion pre-snap: That is Calvin Ridley being picked up by a Mike linebacker on a vertical route. That's what we call a winner, folks. And Levis knows it, as evidenced by his frustration when the whistle is blown.

These are just the worst moments of offensive incompetence in this game. The weight of the comprehensive failure is magnified by the situation: playing the worst defense in the league in your own building. The Titans simply must tighten up their ship on offense if they don't want things to get truly ugly once this season comes to an end.

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