For the first time since before the franchise moved to Tennessee, the Titans are going in a completely different direction with a head coach replacement.
The hiring Brian Callahan as their new coach marks the first time the franchise has gone away from a coach with NFL playing experience since Jerry Glanville guided the run-and-shoot Houston Oilers back in the late 1980s.
And hiring Callahan sends the Titans into an area in which the franchise has had very little experience. While controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk has preached her buzzword – collaboration – even going back to when she hired Ran Carthon as general manager to work with Mike Vrabel, there is another more important factor at work than that that should have Titans fans excited.
Over the last decade or so, the NFL has moved toward an offensive style that features the quarterback and the passing game instead of the Titans’ long-held, almost religious reliance on the run game to control the tempo and allow the defense to win games.
But while the Titans were busy trying to recreate the 1986 New York Giants, the rest of the league passed them by in terms of scoring offense.
It started with the Mike Shanahan coaching tree, which has disciples all over the league including his son, Kyle Shanahan, in San Francisco and Sean McVey with the Los Angeles Rams. There also is Callahan’s boss, Zac Taylor, in Cincinnati, as well as Green Bay’s Matt LaFleur and Mike McDaniel in Miami.
While that philosophy was spreading across the league, the Titans seemed more concerned about finding ways to stop it than replicating it. In fairness, the Titans did have LaFleur as offensive coordinator in 2018 before he was plucked away by the Packers to be their head coach.
There is no question the trend in NFL coaching circles favors wunderkinds building their offenses around a strong-armed quarterbacks and speedy receivers. The idea is to find and take advantage of mismatches. It’s where the league has been moving for five-plus years.
And now the Titans have finally decided to embrace it, hoping Callahan and second-year quarterback Will Levis can accomplish that feat.
And with all due respect to Derrick Henry and the way the Titans have done business since 2016 under Mike Mularkey, then Vrabel, this is a move that had to be done.
It’s where today’s NFL is going and has been headed now for a while as more and more explosive playmakers enter the NFL from the college ranks. Colleges aren’t churning out big running backs like Henry or huge run-blocking offensive linemen like Rodger Saffold like they once did.
Everything is predicated on a quarterback with a strong arm – even better if they have mobility – plus speed on the outside and in the backfield.
Hiring an offensive-minded coach like Calahan allows him to bring his system and his staff with him and install it for the long haul. No matter if he takes the play-calling duties himself or gives it to his offensive coordinator, the system is in place, which means continuity for Levis – even if the offensive coordinator moves on after a couple of years.
But this move was done with more than Levis’ benefit in mind. The team must get back on track before it moves into its new domed stadium in 2027. Callahan can build an offense made for that environment, especially since the Titans will be playing 10 or 11 games a year indoors each season. Division rivals Indianapolis and Houston both play indoors.
There is, of course, risk anytime a coaching change is made. But considering how offensively challenged the Titans have been for the past couple of seasons, it’s a risk they had to take – going all in with a young offensive coach.
Terry McCormick covers the Titans for TitanInsider.com