{"id":691391,"date":"2026-01-20T14:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/691391\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T14:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:58:13","slug":"colts-rival-titans-hire-next-head-coach-in-robert-saleh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/691391\/","title":{"rendered":"Colts’ rival Titans hire next head coach in Robert Saleh"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 20, 2026, 7:40 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

The Indianapolis Colts’<\/a> division rival, the Tennessee Titans<\/a>, have landed their next head coach.<\/p>\n

According to ESPN<\/a>, the Titans are hiring San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.<\/p>\n

This will be Saleh’s second stint as an NFL head coach. He spent three-plus seasons with the New York Jets, compiling a 20-36<\/a> record during that span with no playoff appearances.<\/p>\n

Saleh’s coaching background is rooted in the defensive side of the ball. Despite the lack of team success with the Jets, the defense was often very formidable.<\/p>\n

This past season, leading the 49ers’ defense, San Francisco ranked 15th<\/a> in points per game allowed, while dealing with numerous injuries.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Colts<\/a> faced Saleh’s defense on Monday Night Football late in the 2025 season. With Phillip Rivers at quarterback, the Colts scored 27 points, totaling 312 yards<\/a>, with the 49ers forcing an interception.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0The Athletic’s Dianna Russini<\/a>, the Titans wanted a coach with a clear plan for quarterback Cam Ward. Saleh, however, is a defensive head coach. In Russini’s words, the Titans prioritized “a reset of the organization’s culture.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 20, 2026, 7:40 a.m. ET The Indianapolis Colts’ division rival, the Tennessee Titans, have landed their next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2059],"tags":[95878,2005,7,2004,392,2381,6,49915,95900,95882,95892,95903,95896,95888,95895,95899,95975,95884,95883,95889,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-691391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-colts","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-indianapolis","12":"tag-indianapolis-colts","13":"tag-indianapoliscolts","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflcolts","16":"tag-sstsncolts","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagespn-inc","19":"tag-tagindianapolis-colts","20":"tag-tagnational-sports","21":"tag-tagnfl","22":"tag-tagnfl-hub","23":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","24":"tag-tagrobert-saleh","25":"tag-tagsports-coaching-training","26":"tag-tagsports-news","27":"tag-tagtennessee-titans","28":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115928020233960661","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}