With the Tennessee Titans pulling the plug on Brian Callahan after his uninspiring 23-game stint as an unproven head coach, imagine the job posting:
Wanted: Extreme leader to revitalize sagging operation. Sharp. Savvy. Bold. Experience essential – with a resume that includes playoff appearances and division titles. Relates well to players. Aligns with front office on personnel moves. Keen game-day strategist.
The ideal candidate to become the next Titans coach sounds a lot like…
Too bad, Titans. Vrabel heads to Nashville this weekend to face his former team and look who’s in first place? The New England Patriots.
Man, did NFL schedule-makers nail this one for irony. Vrabel coaching against the Titans is one thing. The optics of Tennessee firing its coach on Monday, of any given week, is an even more glaring reminder of the colossal mistake it was to dump Vrabel after the 2023 season.
Here’s to a Music City Reunion.
“I think it would file under the category of, is it interesting or important?” Vrabel said early this week in Foxborough. “I would probably say this would be very interesting. But in the end, not very important to our preparation or what we need to do to continue to try to improve as a team.”
Titans are in Vrabel’s rear-view mirror, still looking for answers
In other words, his six-year Titans tenure is where you’d expect it, firmly in the rear-view mirror. His Patriots (4-2), with an emerging young quarterback Drake Maye, ride a three-game winning streak and have shown suddenly substantial indications that they might give the Buffalo Bills a run for the AFC East crown in Vrabel’s first season.
After taking a year working in the background with the Cleveland Browns, Vrabel found the perfect job – or the perfect job found him, at the expense of Jerod Mayo – and has quickly demonstrated why Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk & Co. were crazy to kick him to the curb.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft certainly gave Mayo a raw deal, too. Mayo, previously the defensive coordinator, had it in his contract that he would replace Bill Belichick, but that clause was written before Vrabel hit the market. After Mayo went 4-13 in his only season, when fans at Gillette Stadium chanted for his firing, Kraft quickly moved to land Vrabel. And the Patriots, rebooting from the Belichick era, needed Vrabel in the worst way.
Callahan, meanwhile, ultimately got the Mayo treatment after all of the talk about patience coming from Titans president Chad Brinker a few months ago.
In January, Brinker went on record, contending that they wanted to give Callahan “the opportunity to grow into the head coach that we think he can be … it just takes time to build a program.”
Well, time’s up, as interim coach Mike McCoy takes over to direct the development of Cam Ward, the No. 1 overall pick. Fast fact: Of the past eight quarterbacks drafted No. 1 overall, Ward is now the sixth to see his coach fired during his rookie year. It seemed destined to happen. The Titans (1-5) won their only game as a gift from the mistake-riddled Arizona Cardinals and scored the fewest points in franchise history (83) during the first six games.
Along the way, Callahan – who didn’t call the plays as he rose as a hot coaching prospect as coordinator for the Joe Burrow-quarterbacked Cincinnati Bengals – turned over the Titans play-calling duties to quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree and kept appearing to be way in over his head.
As Ward eloquently put it after a shut out at Houston in Week 4: “We ass.”
On Monday night after firing Callahan, who went 4-19, Brinker contended, “We’re not seeing enough growth from this football team.”
That’s not solely an indictment on Callahan. The Titans ownership, which also dumped the past two general managers, Ran Carthon and Jon Robinson, has much mud on its hands for picking the coach. And now the search is on again, while the talent level is so suspect.
Vrabel, who won two AFC South titles and earned three playoff berths with the Titans, couldn’t be blamed if he asked, “How ya like me now?”
Instead, he can thank his lucky stars for his twist in fortune. He landed in a much better place. Back where he won three Super Bowls as a player, he is already re-establishing the Patriot Way. He came in with the windfall of nearly $100 million in salary cap room. He’s familiar with Kraft, and that vibe works both ways.
He knows. Tough business. Callahan didn’t turn out to be the next Sean McVay, Mike Tomlin or Sean Payton – who were unproven upon landing their first head coaching jobs and are now among the best in the business. Vrabel can relate to getting fired.
The former Titans coach didn’t hesitate to reach out to the latest former Titans coach. It just so happens that it went down this week, of all weeks.
“I don’t want to see anybody that shares a job with you get let go,” Vrabel told reporters on Wednesday. “That’s a tough feeling with family and school. Whether it’s in college or pro, we’re in the media every single day. And there’s a human element to this that I don’t want to forget.
“I just remember all those coaches or people that reached out to me after I was let go. I think that’s important because nobody texts you when you lose, they all text you when you win. So, it’s a good reminder.”
And Vrabel’s presence in Nashville will be a good reminder, too, for the Titans power brokers needing to figure out how to pick, support and commit to a winning coach.
Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on X: @JarrettBell
