Brian Callahan is Gone. What’s Next for Struggling Titans?
After the Tennessee Titans lost to the Las Vegas Raiders, Brian Callahan’s seat was red hot.
On Monday, it exploded. Callahan was fired, unsurprisingly, after an atrocious 1-5 start to this season and a 4-19 record overall as the Titans’ head coach.
Callahan did his best, but when he relinquished play-calling duties a couple of weeks ago, it was clear he realized being the Titans' head coach at this point was a little too much for him to handle.
The question now is simple. What’s next?
Mike McCoy was named the interim coach, and he’s already made a couple of changes to the coaching staff.
The search is now on for a new full-time head coach. A few names have been mentioned in these early hours, including Arthur Smith and Matt Nagy.
Smith has a history with the Titans, serving as their offensive coordinator from 2019 until he was hired as Atlanta Falcons head coach in 2021. He was remarkably consistent, albeit unimpressive, going 7-10 each of his three seasons at the helm for the Falcons. After that, he was hired as the Pittsburgh Steelers' offensive coordinator, where he remains.
He’s an intriguing choice since he’s already familiar with the Titans organization, although it has changed a lot since he left in 2021. He’s also a very skilled offensive coach, which would hopefully mean he could get the best out of Cam Ward.
Ward, who has struggled for the most part while also showing some signs of elite star potential, made some interesting comments in the wake of Callahan’s firing.
“It’s frustrating for me, because I’m not playing how I want to play,” Ward said.
Ward went on to send a warning to the rest of the NFL, saying that the league will be in trouble (he used more colorful language) once he starts playing the way he wants to.
It remains to be seen if that’s true or not. Also up for debate is who the new head coach will be and how successful he will be in getting the best out of Ward and the rest of the Titans.
Ward’s comments also call into question whether he meant he wasn’t playing up to his standards, or if he wasn’t being allowed to play in the style or system he prefers. If it’s the former, that’s more about Ward just needing patience as he adjusts to the NFL game, but if it’s the latter, that could be a big reason why the Titans decided to let Callahan go.
There were already many questions surrounding the Titans organization. Now there are even more.
Sometimes a fresh start is needed, and pairing a new head coach with a new quarterback could be a recipe for success. That, of course, depends on who the new coach is, and the Titans likely won’t cook up much success in the short term. However, if they find the right coach who can handle a project and build something special with this team, then the Titans and their fans can look back on the Callahan era as a necessary step in their journey to the top.