Former Titans coach Brian Callahan likely shouldn’t have been surprised that he was fired. Based on a new report from Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com, Callahan probably should have seen it coming.
McCormick reports that the decision to remove play-calling duties from Callahan and to shift them to quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree after a Week 3 loss to the Colts likely came from owner Amy Adams Strunk.
Per the report, many on the coaching staff believe the decision wasn’t made by Callahan, but came from president of football operations Chad Brinker and G.M. Mike Borgonzi, with the message given to them by ownership to make it happen.
On one hand, Strunk (like all owners) has the ability to make any decisions she wants. On the other hand, the best owners trust their football people to make the football decisions. The not-best owners meddle where they arguably shouldn’t.
But, alas, dysfunctional teams do dysfunctional things. Look at Monday, when the Titans announced Callahan’s firing and then delayed the naming of an interim head coach by hours. All the while, the clock was ticking toward the return of former Titans coach Mike Vrabel to Nashville, with a Patriots team that has won as many games through Week 6 as the Titans have won in 23 games since firing Vrabel.
The situation serves as a renewed reminder to head-coaching candidates who consider taking employment with franchises that have a history of curious decisions. Look at how ownership has behaved. Consider how past coaches have been treated. Set aside your ambitions and ask yourself the hard question of whether you’ll simply be the next one, sooner or later, to be on the wrong end of dysfunctional decision-making.
While the buyout is nice, the best coaches would be wise to wait for the right jobs to come open — and to be pragmatic about the risks associated with a team that has a well-greased revolving door.
Titans interim head coach Mike McCoy has worked with quarterbacks like Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning and Trevor Lawrence over the course of his career and his 11-game run with the Titans will be focused on another quarterback.
Cam Ward was the first overall pick in April and his first six games were rough enough to lead to Brian Callahan’s firing on Monday. Stabilizing him through the upheaval of a coaching change and getting him on a better developmental track are vital to the franchise’s future.
McCoy said at a Tuesday press conference that “players and not plays” have to guide the direction a team takes, which is why the offense will be guided by a couple of simple questions that center on the quarterback.
“What does Cam do best?” McCoy said, via the team’s website. “And what do we do best as an offense? . . . We have to look at our scheme and what we are doing, and it is going to change from week to week.”
McCoy also said that there is “nothing like experience” when it comes to teaching young quarterbacks. The Titans will be hoping that the experience of his first year doesn’t make that process even more difficult.
For the Titans and rookie quarterback Cam Ward, the letter of the moment is F.
Head coach Brian Callahan was fired. And, via Michael Silver of TheAthletic.com, Ward’s grade for his own performance through six games is F.
The letter of the future, however, could also be F. In a good way.
“I’m not playing how I want to play right now,” Ward told Silver. “So, once I play how I want to play, I think the league will be fucked.”
For now, Ward’s situation is. Through six games, the No. 1 overall pick in April has the second lowest passer rating for all qualifying starters (67.3) other than Joe Flacco (60.3). Moving forward, the same coaching staff that has engineered Ward’s abysmal career start remains in place, with only Callahan and his father, Bill, gone. Mike McCoy, who went 27-37 in the regular season and 1-1 in the postseason as head coach of the Chargers, takes over for the balance of the season (unless there’s an eventual interim to the interim).
Then what? That next move by the Titans will be critical to Ward’s development. Will they find the best, most creative, most dynamic coach available? Or will the current power structure (with president of football operations Chad Brinker holding the ear of ownership) look for someone who will land in the sweet spot of sufficient competence and muted ambition, so that he won’t become a threat to become the new apple of Amy Adams Strunk’s eye?
After the Titans were shut out in Houston two weeks ago, Ward summarized the team’s situation with two words: “We ass.” And while Brian Callahan thereafter suggested that Ward shouldn’t have said it publicly, Ward made it clear to Silver that Ward has no regrets.
“I didn’t care,” Ward said of the reaction to his comment. “It was true. And that’s how we played those previous weeks. But I think the biggest thing is that nobody in the locker room pointed fingers; we just kept working.
“[My teammates] knew where I was coming from. Now, I could have helped out some people in regards of just [giving them a heads-up that] they’re gonna get asked the question. I could’ve helped them out that way. But they knew what I meant, and they knew how we were playing. So, they knew we were ass.”
The Titans still are. And there’s no reason to think it will change. The wave of partial terminations in Tennessee has happened for too long to not be a trend. There’s never a housecleaning. Those with the power will make decisions aimed at preserving it. And dynamics other than winning will continue until the Titans stumble into a successful formula through a constant stream of unsuccessful adjustments.
The stakes are high for Ward. For his maturation. For the level of support he has around him, on both sides of the ball. For his earning capacity on his second contract. For his legacy.
The NFL has structured the draft to give the worst teams dibs on the best incoming players, without regard to what it will mean for the best available players to have no viable alternative to accepting assignment to the worst teams.
Even when it looks like it has worked, as it did when quarterback Joe Burrow turned the Bengals around in 2020, it’s not sustainable. The qualities that made the Bengals the worst team in 2019 still linger, and Burrow currently has not much help beyond a pair of high-end receivers. The best evidence comes from the extent to which the franchise has become completely lost without him.
There’s not much Ward can do at this point, except wish it works out. And hope that, if it doesn’t, he’ll get a chance to develop into the next quarterback (like Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Geno Smith, and Daniel Jones) who finds his footing with a much better franchise once he finally becomes a free agent.
The Titans have made a few roster moves on Tuesday.
Tennessee announced the club has signed edge rusher Ali Gaye to the 53-man roster from the club’s practice squad. He appeared in 15 games for Tennessee last year, recording eight total tackles with one sack.
Edge rusher Femi Oladejo has been placed on injured reserve with a calf injury suffered during Sunday’s loss to the Raiders. He’s posted 13 total tackles with two tackles for loss and two QB hits in six games this season.
Tennessee has also waived tight end Thomas Odukoya and signed offensive tackle John Ojukwu to the club’s practice squad.
As expected, the Titans will be moving forward this season without Bill Callahan.
In his Tuesday press conference, interim head coach Mike McCoy confirmed Callahan, Tennessee’s offensive line coach, is departing the organization after his son, Brian, was fired as head coach on Monday.
Bill Callahan, 69, was let out of his contract with the Browns to make the lateral move to coach for his son in early 2024. He had been with Cleveland since Kevin Stefanski was hired as head coach in 2020.
A longtime NFL assistant, Bill Callahan carries a reputation as being one of the league’s best offensive line coaches. Since the 90s, he’s served in the position for the Eagles, Raiders, Jets, Cowboys, Washington, and the Browns.
He was also the Raiders’ offensive coordinator under Jon Gruden before being promoted to head coach in 2022 when Gruden was traded to the Buccaneers. Callahan led the Raiders to an AFC title that season before falling to Gruden’s Bucs in Super Bowl XXXVII.
McCoy noted that assistant OL coach Scott Fuchs and offensive assistant Matt Jones will take over the offensive line room going forward.
Otherwise, McCoy noted, there will be no staff changes. Quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree will continue as the team’s offensive play-caller over offensive coordinator Nick Holz.
