Titans have FIRED head coach Brian Callahan | Insider reveals which coach could be fired next

Titans have FIRED head coach Brian Callahan | Insider reveals which coach could be fired next

All right, we have some breaking news from the NFL where the Tennessee Titans have fired head coach Brian Callahan midway into his second season. So, the Titans are off to a 1 and5 start and really have struggled to get anything going on offense behind their number one pick C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C Ham Ward. Callahan finishes four and 19 in Tennessee after replacing Mike Rael who happens to be returning to Nashville this weekend as the head coach of the surging Patriots. All right, let’s welcome in our NFL insider, Jonathan Jones, and our NFL analyst, Pete Prrisco, here to talk about this breaking news. The Tennessee Titans firing Brian Callahan. So, Pete, I’ll come to you first. Your initial reaction to this news, and then also the timing of it all. Well, it’s not surprising. I mean, they’ve struggled over the course of his time there, and they’ve tried to get a quarterback and develop him, and he hasn’t developed. I mean, Cam Ward has worse numbers in his first six starts than Will Levis did in his first six starts, if that’s saying anything. So, I think that had a lot to do with it. Also, you want to talk about timing, you know who they play this week? They play Mike Vrabel. And Mike Greybel comes to town uh as a team, his team is 4-2, and you look across and you say, “Okay, our team is really struggling, so why not make the decision?” Now, look, I’m a firm believer that nothing you do during the season will change things. I really don’t believe that. uh other than getting ahead of the process, it’s obviously not a surprise considering the way this was going. If you had asked me who had the hottest seat in the NFL, it would be Brian Callahan, less than two years into his tenure with the Tennessee Titans. Consider the fact that this is probably the the least talented team in the NFL, the Tennessee Titans. They’re they’re the worst team in the NFL. I understand that they have one victory. The New York Jets have zero. It was the luckiest win in the entire NFL. Multiple times the Arizona Cardinals should have won that game. Brian Callahan exits having given up his play calling duties, which was his entire calling card in getting the job to begin with, right? He was a non-play calling offensive coordinator in Cincinnati, the hot name a couple of years ago, comes to Tennessee and he’s going to be both head coach and play caller. But and what one source told me was that, you know, we the Tennessee Titans needed a head coach more than we needed a play caller. And he had to learn how to be a head coach while on the job. That was probably uh obviously in hindsight a mistake. What they saw from the offense was regression. And it was regressing before Brian Callahan handed over play calling duties to quarterback’s coach Bo Hardigree. And important to note, he did not hand them over to the offensive coordinator, Nick Holtz, someone he has known since high school. He instead gave it to the quarterback’s coach, Rare, and it showed that his offensive coordinator was not prepared to call plays. And so, a number of gaffs at the podium, uh some timeout issues, end of half situations, all of those things ultimately leading to Brian Callahan’s departure in Tennessee. And so, of course, we’re thinking, hey, what does this mean for Cam Ward, the former number one overall pick? We were really holding on to Brian Callahan, what he was able to do with Joe Burrow. We were hoping some of that magic might come through. But JJ, who do you think could be a good fit when we’re considering Cam Ward and continuing the development of him at this next level? Okay, so first of all, let’s let’s have first things first. They are now going to go the next 11 games with an interim head coach. I’m waiting on confirmation, but the odds on favorite has been John Bones Fossil, the special teams coordinator of the Tennessee Titans, who previously when Jeff Fischer was fired with the Rams, he became the interim head coach there. That would make some sense. Bo Hardigree, I would assume would continue calling plays. Of course, he would be calling plays for a team that uh offensively is not scoring a whole lot of points, right? I I say all that to say this actually could get worse for the Tennessee Titans offense, right? Because now you you your best offensive mind is no longer in the building in Brian and Callahan. It wasn’t working, but he’s now out of the building. So, it could get worse. And I would venture to say it will get worse. If you’re talking about potential fits for when they get to the point where they are going to hire a head coach, you have to consider that president of football operations Chad Brinker spent a number of years cutting his teeth in Green Bay. Whether that means and he did not overlap with defensive coordinator Jeff Halfley. I don’t know if he over overlapped with Adam Stenovich, the offensive coordinator there, but both of those guys could be potential head coach candidates. Uh, and then also Chad Brinker, excuse me, Mike Borganzi, the general manager of the Tennessee Titans. He spent his entire career with the Kansas City Chiefs. He knows Matt Naggie quite well, the offensive coordinator there with Kansas City, a former head coach. What I can tell you is uh typically when you go with first time, never before called plays uh as a head coach, you don’t go with that the next time. So that’s they’re not looking for that uh heading into 2026. Pete, what do you think? Look, from my standpoint, look, from my standpoint, I think you got to get off the play calling and get off the this. You got to guy go find a guy who can be a leader of men. I I really believe that. And and we we see it all the time. These guys get jobs and he’s a play caller and he can run an offense and he can do this and they get the job and all of a sudden they’re overwhelmed by it all. You got to find a head coach who can manage the the whole thing. Now, if that also entails calling plays, that’s fine. But it’s hard to do and it’s hard to find the right guy. Um, you look, Jeff Hafley’s name has been mentioned as a guy if you’re going to go to the defensive side of the ball, but I doubt that. I think they have to find somebody who’s going to make that quarterback into what you think he can become when you drafted him first overall. So, you got to find an offensive guy who can lead the room. That’s hard to find. There aren’t a lot of those guys out there. That’s going to be a real challenge for them. But, I definitely think you’re going to look on the offensive side of the football. And gentlemen, while we’re talking about the hot seat, the head coaching hot seat conversation here in the NFL, um Pete, do you think we see anybody else get fired before the end of the season, who comes to mind? Well, I think Mike McDaniel’s an obvious one, but you know, you hear stuff that maybe they won’t make the move during the season. Again, I’ll say this, and I’ve said it over and over again. I don’t necessarily believe that firing a guy helps helps the cause. It really doesn’t. What do you get out of it? I mean, is is Bones Fossil going to take the Titans to the playoffs? No. Is he going to get the job after the season’s over? No. So, what does it do? It doesn’t really do anything. So, uh, but I do think if there’s a candidate out there, Mike McDaniel is certainly on that hot seat. And I think you’re going to, not just him, but the general manager, Chris Greer, as well. I think Miami needs wholesale changes. I do think they’re coming. So obviously if you’re talking about ranking who has the warmest seat remaining in the NFL, there’s no doubt it’s the Miami Dolphins. And it’s at both head coach and general manager. When that takes place after what loss, uh obviously you’re going to be on high alert with as the losses mount for uh the Miami Dolphins. And so uh you know stay tuned to that. That is to be determined. Elsewhere it’s just going to depend on how the season plays out. With the New York Giants, for example, no one is talking about Brian Dable’s job security after they beat the defending Super Bowl champions on Thursday Night Football, right? But if you zoom out a little bit, you still say, well, yeah, his seat is still a little bit warm with the Giants, right? Uh you can talk about the Cleveland Browns perhaps and Kevin Stfansky, uh and maybe even Andrew Barry, the general manager there. All of those things, you have to see how the season’s going to play out. If coming into today, you had asked me what coach could ultimately be fired this week, Brian Callahan would have been at the top of that list, followed closely by Mike McDaniel at some point. Then after that, there’s a wide gap. So, uh, that’s really where things stand right now in the NFL. JJP, we certainly appreciate it joining us for this breaking news here on HQ where the Tennessee Titans have fired head coach Brian Callahan. Titans right now off to a 1 and5 start to this season. And so make sure you stay locked into here. CBS Sports HQ for game day recap. You can catch Pete, Damian, Haley, Ran. They’re always recapping all the events and all the games from Sunday. Make sure you lock in Sunday’s 8:20 Eastern time right here on HQ. We have some breaking news from the NFL where the Tennessee Titans have fired head coach Brian Callahan midway into his second season. The Titans are off to a one and five start and have struggled to get anything going on offense behind the number one pick Cam Ward. So Callahan, you see it there, finishes 4 and9 in Tennessee after replacing Mike Vrabel. And you see the uh disparity there and the win loss, obviously the NFL ranks as well. Rael, of course, being the head coach of the Titans from 2018 to 2023. And Mike Rabel, by the way, returning to Nashville this weekend as the head coach of the Patriots. And a reminder, you can watch that matchup on CBS. All right, let’s welcome in our NFL analyst, NFL draft expert, Ryan Wilson. So Ryan, I know on with the first pick podcast, you guys always break down the rookies from the previous draft class and what you’ve seen. So when you’re hearing all this, the Titans moving on from Brian Callahan. What does this mean in your eyes for Cam Ward, the former number one overall pick moving forward? Hey Jackson, good to see you. Right, each and every week we go through every throw that these rookies make and it was Cam Ward for the longest time. He’s since been joined by Jackson Dart and Dylan Gabriel. But here’s the thing. You can look at the box four and say, “Oh my gosh, uh Cam Ward is is truly and utterly terrible.” When you watch his throws, he one of the concerns coming out of Miami Jaclyn was this. He didn’t play on time. It was a lot of hero ball, him trying to make plays out of structure. He has gotten a lot better at that through the first six weeks of the season. The results aren’t there in the on the score book on the scoreboard or in the win loss column. They did have that miraculous win last week against Arizona, but what you see is him getting to the top of his drop, him throwing the ball on time consistently. He has been sacked more than anyone on planet Earth over the first month and a half. Uh so there are reasons for optimism with Cam Ward in particular. And when you look back at other recent rookie draft classes, Jacqueline, he’s playing better than Caleb Williams did his rookie season. He’s playing better than Drake May did his rookie season. Bryce Young, also you could say Jaden Daniels, uh, who balled out last year as a rookie and CJ Strad 2023. Those are the two guys who really hit the ground running as rookies, uh, in their debut seasons. Cam Horde, while the results don’t show it, the way he’s playing is not far behind. He’s calm in the pocket. He has a big arm. He throws with anticipation. He throws on timing accurately. There’s just so many other things swirling around him that they have not been able to put it together. And and don’t get it twisted. He didn’t play well on Sunday and there’s a reason uh that Brian Callahan was right to call him out with the way his body language was and some of the things that that that team did collectively. But as a whole, I I’ve been impressed with how Cam Wards played in some pretty trying circumstances. So Ryan, if you’re kind of seeing that development and maybe the the the box scores not telling the whole story, who comes to mind for you as a a potential candidate that could step in and continue that development here for a very young, very talented quarterback? Yeah, Jacqueline, if I had the answer to that, uh, I would be living on a beach somewhere, enjoying myself because here here’s the story that you sort of tell yourself, right? Because, hey, Baker Mayfield was drafted first overall by the Browns. He stinks. Turns out he’s an MVP candidate. Sam Darnold’s a top five pick of the Jets. Now, an MVP candidate in Seattle. Our guy Daniel Jones had to leave New York to land with Shane Sty in Indianapolis for everything to come together. And I think the bigger picture story is is this. You do have to be paired with the right play caller. Liam Cohen parlayed his time together in Tampa with Baker into that head coaching job where he’s trying to do the same thing with Trevor Lawrence and having some early success, but you also have to have players around you. We heard JJ and Pete talk about in the previous segment. There is no one to throw the ball to. Calvin Ridley left with a hamstring injury yesterday for Tennessee and that took uh a below average wide receiver room to a well below average unit. So number one, you have to get rid of the sort of the Game of Thrones mentality in the front office and the coaching staff. You have to surround your franchise quarterback with players and you have to have everyone with with buyin and the I think the Titans are one of the worst outfits in the league in terms of the things I just mentioned. They’re doing all the wrong things really really well and they have to get that sorted out. So I couldn’t even give you one name of someone because in a vacuum, hey man, bring Shane Syin in if you could do that. That’s not going to happen. But I I there’s so many things that need to be fixed in Tennessee and your franchise quarterback being one of the things to fix is literally at the bottom of the list. you got that one right with the first overall pick in Cam Ward. You have to sort everything else right to set him up for success. And uh that’s going to be a multi-step process. So Ryan, when you’re looking at it like, hey, we got the quarterback, we did well there, the number one overall pick, but to your point, the surrounding pieces, who even knows where to start? So when you’re considering that, how desirable is this job for candidates out there? Well, if you have a franchise quarterback, that is a huge uh box check when you’re interviewing candidates because one of the things that happens is you uh take a job and you’re like, “Yeah, I can fix the guy who’s currently there and the guy who currently there can’t be fixed and then you’re setting yourself up to fail.” So, it look I would imagine there are people that probably maybe didn’t have Cam Ward as a top 10 or top 15 pick who will be interviewed for this job. There’s no doubt about it. He is a really good football player who you can build a team around. So, in that sense, it is an attractive job. Then the question becomes, can you work with the ownership and the GM? And that’s going to be an individual question uh based on who they end up interviewing. Uh but I think if you have a quarterback, it goes such a long way in solving problems because they’ve had some good draft picks uh on both sides of the ball in terms of the offensive and defensive line. They tried to get it right with the wide receivers uh this draft class, but you don’t expect a rookie wide receiver to hit the ground running. Uh but there are holes to be filled. There’s salary cap that you can use to do that. Uh but there’s not much margin for error in terms of getting everything right. All that said, Jacqueline, and you’ve seen this as a Jacksonville Jaguars fan as well, things can change quickly. The 2022 Houston Texans were absolutely terrible. They drafted CJ Strad and Will Anderson and they became suddenly a playoff team. So, if you get a few things right and you get the right coach in there, everything else can fall into place if you have your quarterback. And I think they do in Cam Ward. Thank you for bringing up my Jacksonville Jaguars childhood fandom. And and actually Ryan, it segus nicely because we’re thinking of some of these former number one pick quarterbacks in, you know, Trevor Lawrence, Bryce Young, Kayla Williams, Cam Ward. These are a long list of number one overall picks to have their head coach be fired in their rookie season. And Ryan, of course, we’re thinking like, okay, the number one overall pick goes to the worst team. So, it’s like, should we be reading into this beyond that or is it just kind of it is what it is because you’re drafting number one overall for a reason. Yeah. No, I think you’re partly right, Jacqueline. That’s right. The the best player goes to the worst team. Jeff Fischer, you could argue he got the wrong on the deal. He was mostly successful. But let’s think about it this way. Jared Goff goes from Jeff Fischer to Shawn McVey, grand slam, and now he’s in Detroit, a double grand slam. Baker Mayfield went to Liam Cohen, and now he is the player he is uh in Tampa. Trevor now has Liam Cohen who we just talked about. Bryce graduated from Frank Reich and in a in a coaching staff that frankly was in disarray to what they have in Dave Canales. They appear to be turning the corner and finally Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson the hottest coaching candidate in recent memory is helping things turn around. You’re seeing it incrementally in Chicago. So I think the takeaway for me is that there is hope if you get it right in Tennessee and that’s a big if with the new head coach because as Pete noted a moment ago, everybody doesn’t have to be a great play caller to be a head coach. Those are two different job titles. You have to be a leader of men. They had a guy named Mike Frabel who they fired, but someone in that vein, Dan Campbell, Mike Frabel, Mike Tomlin, those guys who get the most out of their players. I think that would be a step in the right direction for an organization uh that has struggled in recent years. All right. So, there is hope for Titans fans out there. That’s what Ryan is saying. Ryan, we certainly appreciate it. Joining us here as we are breaking down what is next for the Titans as they uh move on without Brian Callahan firing him as their head coach. And first up is Mike Rabbel and the Patriots which by the way you can watch on CBS. You can hear more from Ryan and Ran Carthon on the with the first pick podcast. As he mentioned, they’re always watching the former rookies in the previous draft class on Sundays and breaking it all down. You can watch right now by scanning that QR code on your screen.

Pete Prisco, Jonathan Jones, and Ryan Wilson join CBS Sports HQ with the latest news and their reactions to the Titans firing Head Coach Brian Callahan.

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