The Doomsday Clock Is Ticking Down on Brian Callahan’s Time in Tennessee

If we were to approach this coldly and callously, like one of those atomic scientists who adjust the Doomsday Clock, it would seem Brian Callahan is edging ever closer to midnight. After a 26–0 blowout loss at the hands of the previously winless and offensively impotent Texans (the first time the Texans have shut out an opponent in 15 years, by the way), the facts have turned against Callahan in a manner that would make it seem as though the Titans’ coach is almost certainly not going to make it to Halloween in his current role. Even next week’s game would seem in doubt.

Before editorializing, let’s first acknowledge that Callahan was hired by a different general manager than the one who currently occupies the seat. That is a check against him. Let’s acknowledge that one quarterback, Will Levis, already regressed under Callahan, necessitating the selection of another. Check. Now, a rookie first-round pick—already tinder for seat-warming flames—has taken the postgame podium with all the wary, defeated energy of a parent at the Wednesday 6:30 a.m. bus stop, declaring the state of the team as “ass.” This, after calling the offense “mid” in training camp. Check. Cam Ward, by the way, is the most consistently pressured regular starter in the NFL after ownership wrote a massive check for a new left tackle in the offseason. (I’m not saying it was the right decision, or that this is Callahan’s fault, but … check.)

Callahan has already endured a high-profile instance in which he appeared unaware of a rule (then later in that same press conference deciding that he is very aware of the rule), turning the fiasco into a multiday story, even in one of the sleepier markets in the NFL. That, or he hired a game manager who was unaware of said rule. Check. Callahan passed off play-calling duties and didn’t have an offensive coordinator on staff deemed capable enough to take on the responsibility, which instead went to the quarterbacks coach. Check. 

There is a capable and experienced interim head coach already on staff in John “Bones” Fassel, the team’s special teams coordinator. Check. 

Callahan has also struggled in the public-facing part of the job. Outside of the unorthodox—yelling, What the f— are you doing? to a quarterback, as he did last season, is hilarious and totally understandable, but also not recommended when you’re trying to appear in control of the offense—he has been losing TKOs at the podium regularly. This is in a market that, while not devoid of tough reporters who ask questions that coaches don’t always want to answer, is envied by many in the NFL for a kind of insulated existence against the turbulence of other markets (like the 4–0 Super Bowl–champion Eagles, who were booed at home a week ago). Had Callahan been the head coach of the Jets, for example, how would a moment like the one below play out? (Check, by the way).

The team is soon to complete a new stadium that it will need to sell season tickets for. My guess would be that “ass” and “mid” are not the kinds of adjectives you can put in racing font on the next marketing email soliciting the purchase of personal seat licenses for 2027. It doesn’t take Garry Kasparov on this one to identify checkmate. 

Observationally, and with all due respect to the fact that we’re talking about the dismissal of a human being that likely impacts the situation of dozens of other human beings and their families, the Titans look irreparably broken in what are supposed to be Callahan’s areas of expertise. He was hired to be the agreeable, vibes-forward antithesis to the acquired taste that was his predecessor, Mike Vrabel. He ended up in a situation that, while made markedly worse by the decisions of the general manager who hired him, has him barely treading water in the best of moments. 

When Ward makes fabulous plays, it’s because he must and not because the offense has opened it up for him. The Titans ran a flea-flicker into the teeth of Houston’s excellent defense Sunday then surrendered by running the ball on a subsequent third-and-12 later in the game. At the end of the flea-flicker drive, he was hit so hard by notorious headhunter Azeez Al-Shaair that, had Patrick Mahomes been holding onto the ball, the FBI would have stormed the building and made an arrest. Only two Titans drives produced more than 20 yards of offense Sunday. 

While I’m sure there are sensible reasons for many of the decisions Callahan has made—given the deficiencies on his roster and that part of the swelling sentiment that will eventually lead to his dismissal is simply the unfair piling on that happens when an unsatiated fan base manages to light a fire that catches on forest-wide—the reality is that there are ways to behave like a head coach who is trying to remain and there are ways to behave like a head coach who is done being a head coach. There is survival and indifference. 

In my opinion, Callahan has chosen the latter. He has chosen the path of the person who has not looked in the mirror, or has not been asked to until it has gotten far too late. And while it’s obvious that he is a symptom of far larger organizational issues, we have seen coaches thrive in other toxic, politically ambiguous or straight-up horrendous atmospheres. It’s one of the job requirements. 

Though the Titans’ schedule will lighten up significantly after this, with dates against the Cardinals, Patriots and Raiders the next three weeks, Titans ownership has to ask itself about the value of being complacent and allowing Ward to continue picking up what look to be bad habits. Basically, as midnight draws near, the Titans have to weigh the value of appearing not to notice what everyone else has. 

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