NASHVILLE — With the Las Vegas Raiders cleaning house and relieving Josh McDaniels of his duties as head coach, it’s a fitting time to look back on the time McDaniels inadvertently helped the Titans land Mike Vrabel.

That's right. The man who was once the offensive coordinator for a New England Patriots team that Mike Vrabel played for had a big hand in him winding up in Tennessee.

To look back at this, we have to go back to the end of the 2017 NFL season when the coaching carousel began.

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December of 2017. The Indianapolis Colts had just finished 4-12 after star quarterback Andrew Luck missed the entire season with various injuries. Owner Jim Irsay was growing impatient, fired Chuck Pagano, and began searching for the team's next head coach to team up with Luck.

Then there was the Tennessee Titans, who decided to move on from Mike Mularkey despite winning their first playoff game in 14 years. At the time GM Jon Robinson was concerned with how Mularkey evaluated his supporting coaching staff and what the staff was getting out of quarterback Marcus Mariota.

Two division rivals. Both looking to become legitimate contenders. Both in need of a head coach.

Indianapolis announced the firing of Chuck Pagano immediately following the team’s final game of the season, just before the new year. Just a few days later on January 3rd, 2018, the Colts conducted their first interview with Josh McDaniels.

Later that week, a defensive coordinator from the Houston Texans and former Super Bowl champion linebacker named Mike Vrabel also interviewed with Jim Irsay and the Colts.

Because of the Titans’ mini playoff run, the team didn’t part ways with Mularkey until the middle of January. By the time Robinson, Amy Adams Strunk, and Titans decision makers began their search, a number of head coaching candidates had already taken interviews elsewhere. Vrabel in Indianapolis being one of them.

Luckily for the Titans, Irsay wanted to go with McDaniels. But because the New England Patriots won some playoff games and advanced to the Super Bowl, the Colts had to wait until early February to hire McDaniels.

Days after he was hired in the first week of February, McDaniels reneged on his agreement with Indy and decided to return to New England. Some believed that McDaniels had an offer from Robert Kraft to be Bill Belichick's successor when he retired, but that theory turned out to be false.

In reality, McDaniels was not seeing eye-to-eye with General Manager Chris Ballard on some of the nuances of football operations. McDaniels wanted more control over things like strength and conditioning, medical reports, and video. His concerns over the power structure were enough to deter him from his deal with Indianapolis.

Had McDaniels, Irsay, and Ballard been more communicative about the expectations of the job, there’s a good chance McDaniels turns down the job after the initial interview process instead of waiting until February. It's also likely the Colts would have gone to their second candidate, Mike Vrabel, and potentially hired him before the Titans were even in the market for a head coach.

"Indianapolis Colts head coach Mike Vrabel" is a reality in some alternate universe, but thanks to the butterfly effect, he landed in Tennessee while Indy waited on McDaniels' season to end.

Just five days after announcing the firing of Mularkey, Vrabel was named the 5th head coach in Tennessee Titans history.

The Colts would later pivot to Frank Reich and Andrew Luck retired after the 2018 season.

Vrabel coached the Titans to four straight winning seasons from 2018-2021 including a trip to the AFC Championship game. Vrabel was named AP NFL Coach of the Year in 2021 and is the last of the head coaches hired in 2018 that still has his job.

In a weird way, Titans fans owe Josh McDaniels a huge thank you. 

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