With the Tennessee Titans firing coach Brian Callahan on Monday after a 1-5 start, the Cam Ward era is already in limbo.
The 2025 No. 1 NFL Draft pick is the latest in a growing trend — top QB picks enduring major coaching changes early in their careers.
In total, the last four quarterbacks taken at No. 1 — Ward, Caleb Williams with the Chicago Bears in 2024, Bryce Young with the Carolina Panthers in 2023 and Trevor Lawrence with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021 — have seen their coaches fired during their rookie seasons.
Quarterbacks taken first are brought in as supposed franchise-altering forces. Yet, in recent memory, that alteration has come with quicker collateral damage than sustained success.
Trouble in Tennessee
After just a 1-5 start, the Titans axed the Callahan-Ward connection and are in search of the next person to lead Ward’s future. Callahan, whom Tennessee hired in 2024, went 4-19 as the Titans’ coach. Senior offensive assistant Mike McCoy will take over as interim coach.
Tennessee sits last in the NFL in yards per game. At 13.8 points per game, the Titans rank second-to-last in scoring, only slightly ahead of the Cleveland Browns’ 13.7. Ward has thrown for 1,101 passing yards, completing 55 percent of his passes with three touchdowns and four interceptions through six games.
Chicago’s all-in attempt
Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner, went to Chicago and a defensive-minded coach, Matt Eberflus, in 2024. The Bears — a franchise that had never once produced a 4,000-yard passer — doubled down on their rebuild by taking All-American receiver Rome Odunze at No. 9. Optimism swelled in Chicago.
The Bears opened the 2024 season 4-2, entering Week 7 against the Washington Commanders on a three-game winning streak. Chicago was alive again — then came the Hail Maryland.
With the final play of the game, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, 2024’s No. 2 pick, launched the ball from his own 35-yard line. Seconds later, receiver Noah Brown caught it for the game-winning score.
That loss was the start of the Bears’ 10-game skid. The team fired Eberflus in the midst of it in Week 13.
Williams threw for 3,541 yards with 20 touchdowns and six interceptions that season and took the league’s most sacks (68), while Chicago finished 5-12. The Bears hired Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as their coach ahead of the 2025 season. Johnson is a respected offensive mind who was the architect behind the league’s most potent offense, averaging 33.2 points per game last year in Detroit.
Chicago has started this season 3-2, including exorcising old demons on “Monday Night Football” in Week 6 by beating Daniels and the Commanders 25-24.
The Panthers’ next Superman
Carolina drafted Young, the 2021 Heisman winner who set single-season passing yards and touchdowns records at Alabama, at No. 1 in 2023 ahead of Frank Reich’s first season coaching the Panthers.
Young became the franchise’s second-ever No. 1 pick. The first was Cam Newton.
Newton threw for over 4,000 yards in his rookie year and led a four-win improvement for the Panthers with Ron Rivera, who was in his first year at the helm in Carolina.
This time around, the franchise didn’t see as clear an initial step forward, starting 1-10 before firing Reich in November 2023. Former special teams coordinator Chris Tabor was named interim through the rest of the season. Young’s rookie year ended with a 59.8 percent completion rate, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Carolina finished 2-15.
The Panthers hired former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales as their coach in 2024. Young once again struggled in his second year and was even benched for a time, but he finished the year strong, posting 10 combined touchdowns and zero interceptions with a 2-1 record in his final three starts. Carolina started 2025 at 0-2 but has since gone 3-1, averaging 25 points per game.
Lawrence’s doomed Urban Meyer era
The Jaguars drafted Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence with the top pick in 2021. He joined forces with Urban Meyer, a three-time college national championship-winning coach, in his first NFL head-coaching job.
A 2-11 start, coupled with off-the-field controversies surrounding Meyer, spelled a disastrous end for the duo in Year 1. Meyer was fired just 13 games into the season. Jaguars then-offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell took over as interim coach for the final four games. Lawrence threw 12 touchdowns and 17 interceptions as a rookie. The Jaguars finished 3-14, bad enough to get the first pick again in the NFL Draft the following spring.
Former Philadelphia Eagles coach Doug Pederson took the reins in 2022, combining with Lawrence to lead Jacksonville to an AFC South division title and a wild-card playoff win over the Los Angeles Chargers before eventually falling to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Jags fired Pederson in early 2025 and brought in former Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen as coach.
The Jaguars sit second in the AFC South with a 4-2 record this season.
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