Titans head coach candidates in losing NFL Wildcard efforts showed exactly why they’re deserving of interviews

Don’t judge coordinators by single playoff performances, especially if you didn’t actually watch the games…

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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It’s everybody’s favorite time of year on the hot take calendar: playoff game vacuum judgements!

Whether it’s draft prospects in the College Football Playoff or head coach candidates in the NFL playoffs, each of these games is a national standalone microscope that we collectively pick them apart under. Pay no attention to the rest of the season they just played, let alone the rest of their careers!

A handful of Tennessee Titans coaching candidates had games this weekend. Rams DC Chris Shula and 49ers DC Robert Saleh got wins and moved on to the Divisional Round. But Packers DC Jeff Hafley and Chargers DC Jesse Minter were one-and-done in this postseason, so their stocks are crashing!

That’s what the internet streets tell me, at least. It’s ridiculous to judge these guys so harshly based on a single game, and luckily, those in charge of hiring decisions usually don’t. I remember back to when Titans OC Arthur Smith had his 2020 offense averaging nearly 30 points per game in the regular season. They lost at home to the Ravens in the playoffs with a season-low 13 points of offense, but it didn’t damage his chances of landing the gig he was already scheduled to interview for in Atlanta.

Don’t go changing your opinion of Jesse Minter or Jeff Hafley now

If you must make a judgement of these candidates based on their final games of the 2025 season (please don’t), then at least consider the context of what these two coordinators actually did.

Jesse Minter has interviews scheduled with the Titans and Browns so far, with more potentially on the way. The case for him on Sunday night is not a difficult one to make: the Chargers’ offense was putrid. On the road in New England, Minter’s defense held the 28.8ppg Patriots offense (2nd in the NFL) to three field goals through three quarters.

Justin Herbert and company trailed 9-3 until within the final 10 minutes of the game, when the dam finally broke. Drake Maye hit Hunter Henry for a deep touchdown, and that was the ball game. But the Chargers were out-possessed by five minutes, were just 1/10 on 3rd down, and managed just 207 yards on offense. It was a failure to launch, and the Chargers buttoned-up defense was hung out to dry.

Speaking of defenses that got hung out to dry: Jeff Hafley’s Green Bay Packers! I felt like I was taking crazy pills Saturday night when my x feed was full of snide remarks about the defensive coordinators’ head coaching opportunities drying up over this showing.

Hafley has interviews lined up already with the Cardinals, Falcons, Raiders, Dolphins, and Titans. He was a part of the monumental sell job Green Bay put out there in Chicago this weekend, but having actually watched every snap of that game, I don’t know how you come away from that thinking the defense is primarily to blame. The Packers led 21-3 at half. In the third quarter, they allowed a single field goal. In fact, they didn’t give up a single touchdown until right at the ten minute mark of the 4th quarter. All of this, of course, was being done without by far their best player: Micah Parsons.

The Packers offense, on the other hand, put up 21 points in the first 23 minutes of the game and then went on vacation. Outside of one “wake up” drive when the house was collapsing in on them in the 4th quarter, they no-showed in the most important parts of the game. And even that one scoring drive was mismanaged. They made it an 11 point lead with that 64-yard touchdown drive, but only took 3:25 off the clock. They left the Bears ample room to come back, and sent the defense back out there far too quickly.

In the second half of this game, the Packers managed 116 total yards of offense, 64 of which came on their one scoring drive. The Bears offense and Packers defense were on the field just shy of 2/3 of the half. The Packers offense managed 28 plays to the Bears’ 47!

Bottom line, I don’t condone harsh judgement of potential head coaching hires based on single playoff performances. But if that’s what you want to do, think twice about coming down hard on either of these guys based on what they did in the Wildcard round.

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