NASHVILLE — Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel is in an unfamiliar position. For the first time in Vrabel's coaching career, his team is falling out of contention heading into Thanksgiving. 

The same coach who has been known for doing more with less, maintaining control of his locker room, and finding a way to win is somehow sitting at 3-7. How does things fall apart so quickly?

When pressed about the Titans' shortcomings in a recent press conference, Vrabel directed some of the blame at himself. But he also avoided saying what every Titans fan already knows.

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Not Making Coaching Changes

Vrabel referred to the Jacksonville Jaguars as being the "better coached" team in Monday's press conference. According to Vrabel, Titans coaches need to give players better chances and do a better job of explaining things. 

That said, Vrabel was also firm in saying that he would not consider making changes to his coaching staff at this time. Why not? Because Vrabel has been in the shoes of a player. He knows better than anyone that failure is not always a reflection of coaching. 

"Because I have the luxury of having played this game in this league and I know what we're coaching, I know what we're teaching," said Vrabel on Monday. "I never blamed Dean Pees, or Matt Patricia, or Bill Belichick, or Romeo Crennel, or Rob Ryan when I couldn't get to the pass rusher, or I missed a tackle, or I went the wrong way. And that's a luxury that I have. Never blamed a coach. So I know what we're coaching, and I know what we're teaching. I'm in the meetings. We're going to continue to find ways to help our players and to demand that they play with great effort and improve our details, improve our fundamentals, because I know that that's what works."

Let's read between the lines here. Titans players continue to make the same mistakes and have not improved much this season. The head coach admits that the opponent is a better coached team, but does not want to make changes to his staff and references times in the past where his coaches were not responsible for his own shortcomings as a player.

By Vrabel’s assessment, his coaching staff is teaching the right things, and therefore not to blame for players failing to get the job done and making continued mental mistakes. But just earlier Vrabel had mentioned all the way Titans coaches needed to be better at explaining things and putting players in a position to succeed.

This is a slight contradiction that comes from Vrabel trying to avoid saying the obvious: The players on his football team are not good.

Tennessee does not have a talented enough roster to win games in the NFL. They have far too many weaknesses and not enough guys that play with consistency for four quarters.

You have your occasional Jeffery Simmons, Peter Skoronski, Azeez Al-Shaair, or DeAndre Hopkins that show a lot of promise. But as Vrabel likes to say, it takes all 11. Tennessee is a long way away from having 11 players who play winning football.

Between the poor technique, mental lapses, and critical penalties, the Titans are a walking self-inflicted wound. The offensive line can’t protect the quarterback. The secondary can’t cover or communicate. The defensive line doesn’t win and the special teams unit is sloppy.

Jacksonville dominated all three phases of the game on Sunday and it’s hard to pin that on the coaching. Could some of the decision making or playcalling be better? Sure, but winning with this roster just isn’t realistic. Mike Vrabel could never say that, so instead he falls on the sword while heavily insinuating that during his press conference. But to everybody on the outside, it’s just the obvious truth.

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