The Tennessee Titans ought to have by no means fired Mike Vrabel.
Certain, hindsight is at all times 20/20. However after firing head coach Brian Callahan after a 4-19 begin to his profession in Tennessee, the Titans don’t want any extra proof that letting Vrabel out of the constructing was a mistake.
Because the Titans appeared in direction of a rebuild, Vrabel was surprisingly fired in 2023 after having simply gained the NFL Coach of the 12 months award in 2021.
The Titans have been wanting in direction of life after quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Despite the fact that the staff gained 12 video games in 2021, it was clear that Vrabel’s management and protection was carrying the Titans, not their getting old quarterback.
After Vrabel was fired, he spent final season with the Cleveland Browns as a training advisor. Nevertheless, as a result of Cleveland was so inept offensively, Vrabel needed to step in and function an offensive line coach for the again half of the season.
Upon that contract expiring in Cleveland, Vrabel immediately turned one of many hottest teaching candidates within the NFL. As soon as the Jerod Mayo experiment went bitter in New England, the Patriots shortly scooped up Vrabel as their subsequent head coach.
And he’s been off to the races.
Vrabel’s signature win in New England was when the Patriots marched into Orchard Park and upset the Buffalo Payments in primetime just a few weeks in the past. Second-year quarterback Drake Maye has made strides to date, trying to be the long-term reply after Mac Jones proved unable to fill the large sneakers left behind when Tom Brady left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England’s success is proof that Vrabel was by no means the problem in Tennessee. He’s a natural-born chief of males. Whereas the Titans have been heading right into a rebuild, they might have caught beside their coach, supporting him with a quarterback that would compete with the likes of Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen within the AFC.
As an alternative, they fell sufferer to being prisoners of the moments. They fell in love with a youthful, sizzling shot offensive coordinator in Callahan who had Cincinnati’s offense buzzing for years.
In Callahan’s first yr as a head coach, the Titans have been the worst staff within the NFL. That earned them the No. 1 general decide and the rights to pick out Miami quarterback Cam Ward to show the franchise round.
However Ward has struggled within the first six video games. The Titans are 1-5. Rapidly, the Titans realized that Callahan was unable to work the identical magic on Ward that he labored on Joe Burrow throughout their time along with the Bengals.
The Titans will host their outdated coach, Vrabel, and the Patriots on Sunday at Nissan Stadium. Nevertheless it’s Vrabel who already has the final chuckle in opposition to his former staff earlier than the sport is even performed.
