Getty
Robert Griffin III blasted the Tennessee Titans for firing Mike Vrabel, as the former Patriot is taking New England to the Super Bowl in his first year as head coach.
Robert Griffin III didn’t mince words about the Tennessee Titans‘ decision to fire current Patriots‘ head coach Mike Vrabel.
The FOX Sports analyst took to X following the Patriots’ AFC Championship Game victory, criticizing the Titans’ choice to part ways with Vrabel after back-to-back losing seasons. A few years after Tennessee axed him, Vrabel is headed to Super Bowl LX with New England.
“The Tennessee Titans had Mike Vrabel and threw him out like a piece of garbage,” Griffin wrote on X. “Well one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and Mike Vrabel is SHINING BRIGHT. The Titans played themselves. Could of been them, but instead the Patriots are BACK.”
The Tennessee Titans had Mike Vrabel and threw him out like a piece of garbage. Well one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and Mike Vrabel is SHINING BRIGHT.
The Titans played themselves. Could of been them, but instead the Patriots are BACK.
Griffin’s take came days after Vrabel and the Patriots defeated the Denver Broncos 10-7 in a snowy AFC Championship Game, earning New England its first Super Bowl appearance since the 2018 season. Vrabel led the Patriots to a 14-3 record in his first season as head coach and was named the 2025 NFL Coach of the Year by the Professional Football Writers of America.
Robert Griffin III Bashes Tennessee Titans for Firing Mike Vrabel After Patriots’ Success
The Titans fired Vrabel in Jan. 2024 after six seasons as head coach, ending his tenure with a 54-45 regular-season record and two playoff victories. But those numbers only tell part of the story.
Vrabel went 13-21 combined in his final two seasons with Tennessee, finishing 7-10 in 2022 and 6-11 in 2023. The Titans lost seven straight games to end the 2022 season and finished last in the AFC South in 2023. They went 1-5 against division opponents that year while ranking 28th in total offense and 18th in total defense.
There were also reports of organizational tensions. Multiple outlets reported friction between Vrabel and general manager Ran Carthon, though Carthon publicly denied those claims at a press conference following Vrabel’s dismissal.
“I know there’s been a lot of speculation over the last two, three months or whatever it’s been about the nature of Mike and I’s relationship,” Carthon told reporters in Jan. 2024. “I will say that Mike and I, we’ve never had any issue. Versus whether it’s personal or professional. We worked well together and had a good relationship.”
Vrabel and Titans Had Success
Before those final two losing seasons, Vrabel had established himself as one of the NFL’s better coaches. He guided the Titans to the AFC Championship Game following the 2019 season with upset victories over the Patriots and top-seeded Baltimore Ravens. In 2021, Tennessee claimed the AFC’s No. 1 seed with a 12-5 record, earning Vrabel his first NFL Coach of the Year award.
The Titans made three consecutive playoff appearances from 2019 to 2021 and won back-to-back AFC South titles in 2020 and 2021. But they never won a playoff game during those division championship seasons, losing at home to the Ravens in 2020 and the Cincinnati Bengals in 2021 despite being the conference’s top seed.
The Inherited Situation Argument
Griffin’s take could imply the Patriots’ success is entirely Vrabel’s doing, but that may oversimplify the situation.
New England drafted quarterback Drake Maye with the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, one year before Vrabel arrived. Maye was named the 2025 NFL Most Improved Player of the Year by the Professional Football Writers of America and is considered an MVP candidate after his second season.
So anyways, the 2024 Titans got a new rookie QB they drafted first overall because they were the worst team in football
And then in 2025 got to play what was officially the hardest strength of schedule in the league!
The Patriots also inherited significant defensive pieces from previous regimes. While Vrabel deserves a ton of credit for maximizing that talent, the foundation existed before he took over a team that went 4-13 in 2024 under Jerod Mayo.
There was also a stark difference in the strength of schedule when comparing the Titans and Patriots’ vastly different paths of 2025. That being said, there’s nothing flukey about reaching the Super Bowl in the National Football League.
Vrabel’s Patriots went 14-3 in the regular season and posted a perfect 8-0 road record. They defeated the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans in the playoffs before beating the Broncos for the AFC title. The turnaround marks an impressive 10-win improvement from 2024, tying the NFL record for the biggest single-season improvement.
The Titans’ Current Situation
Tennessee hired former Cincinnati Bengals’ offensive coordinator Brian Callahan as head coach following Vrabel’s dismissal. The franchise has undergone significant organizational changes beyond the coaching staff, including bringing in Carthon as general manager before the 2023 season. Callahan and Carthon are both already long gone.
The Titans face the uncomfortable reality of watching their former coach lead a rival AFC team to the Super Bowl while they continue rebuilding. Whether that validates Griffin’s criticism or simply reflects the cyclical nature of NFL success remains a matter of perspective.
What’s undeniable: Vrabel won 13 total games in his final two years with Tennessee, no more than seven in either season. Now he’s 14-3 with New England, and one win away from a championship as a head coach.
Earlier in January, I wrote about the entire transition of the Tennessee Titans over the bumpy, painful last couple of seasons. In reality, it would have been nearly impossible for Vrabel and Cam Ward to co-exist on the Titans together. Simply, Vrabel is a good coach, and it would have been unlikely for the Titans to completely bottom out under his watch to draft Ward at No. 1.
This week, on the Pat McAfee show, NFL legend J.J. Watt gave kudos to the Titans‘ new staff. The franchise is set to officially introduce new head coach Robert Saleh on Thursday, after the team snagged ex-Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll to fill the OC void.
Griffin’s Media Role and Perspective
Griffin joined FOX Sports as a college football analyst in 2025 after ESPN fired him in August 2024 with two years remaining on his contract. He’s part of FOX’s college football broadcast team alongside Jason Benetti and recently called his first NFL game for the network in December.
The former Heisman Trophy winner and second overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft spent eight seasons in the league before transitioning to sports media. He hosts the “Outta Pocket with RGIII” podcast with his wife, Grete.
Justin Carlucci brings 13+ years of journalism experience to Heavy. A veteran of multiple industry-leading companies, he has hosted SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio shows and contributed to the New York Post, combining traditional sports and news reporting with expertise in sports betting and fantasy sports. More about Justin Carlucci
More Heavy on Titans
Loading more stories