BREAKING: The Titans Have Fired Mike Vrabel And Screwed Themselves For The Foreseeable Future
Bad franchises just can't get out of their own way. That is evident with the Titans firing Mike Vrabel today. This is just an awful, awful move in my opinion. I know stuff has come out this week from behind the scenes about his relationship with Ran the GM, but still, it's Mike Vrabel. No one has embraced this team like he has, and no one ever will. This team was DOGWATER before he got here. Awful. He got to Nashville and turned them into a competitive, winning team that was in the AFC Championship game. 12-5, coach of the year, things were looking up for the Titans. Unfortunately those 2 playoff wins were the only 2 he had as a Titan. Ryan Tannehill couldn't replicate that season and stay healthy, Derrick Henry started to show his age, trading A.J. Brown, it was a lot for a team to overcome.
Couple that with back-to-back losing seasons including last year when they were 7-3 and lost the remainder of their games and you have a rocky road. The stuff with the GM is weird to me, especially since he was involved in the hiring process last year! How could things have gone so wrong so quick?
He immediately becomes the best coach on the market and I bet his agent is on the phone with teams right this second. Ohio State should be calling, the Commanders should be calling, the Falcons should be calling, the Chargers should be calling, the PATRIOTS should be calling. Hell, teams that currently have a head coach employed should consider a change with Vrabel out there for the taking. I am shocked it was a straight up firing, I thought AAS may trade him to get something back, but instead he walks for free.
It sucks that it ended like this because I really, really enjoyed him as the Titans coach. The guys got up for him, they played hard for him. He would win the games they weren't supposed to. Like New England and Baltimore in the playoffs, and like Jacksonville on Sunday which turned out to be his final game in two-toned blue.
This is a move bad teams make. But I also feel like he backed them into a corner and this was maybe what he was looking for. He wanted the GM to have someone above him, he was asking for new roles for the team presidents and all that. This was rumored and bubbling for weeks, so it's not surprising to me but I still hate it. I think he's a top 10 coach in the league and any team will be lucky to have Vrabes on the sideline. 54-45 as a coach, two division titles, a trip to the AFC Championship game and a Coach of the Year award. Wasn't enough to smooth things over in Tennessee.
The rebuild is now fully on with Vrabel and Henry gone. Sure they have the second most cap room in football but you need a coach. Hopefully they can strike gold with this next hire, god knows they picked a good one last time. Going to be a long, long road for the Titans to climb back to where they were.