Titans fire Brian Callahan: First NFL coach to be let go in 2025 season started Year 2 with abysmal 1-5 record

The Brian Callahan era in Nashville is over. The Tennessee Titans have fired their coach following a 1-5 start, the team announced on Monday. This decision comes following a 20-10 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. 

Mike McCoy, the team's senior offensive assistant, has been named interim coach, CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones confirms. McCoy was the coach of the Chargers from 2013-16.

"These decisions are never easy, and they become more difficult when they involve people of great character," said Chad Brinker, the team's president of football operations, in a statement. "We are grateful for Brian's investment in the Titans and Tennessee community during his tenure as head coach. We thank him and his family for being exemplary ambassadors of the Tennessee Titans.

"While we are committed to a patient and strategic plan to build a sustainable, winning football program, we have not demonstrated sufficient growth. Our players, fans, and community deserve a football team that achieves a standard we are not currently meeting, and we are committed to making the hard decisions necessary to reach and maintain that standard."

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Jeff Kerr

Callahan, who was hired in January 2024 away from the Cincinnati Bengals after five seasons served as their offensive coordinator, went 4-19 with Tennessee. The offensive mind was brought in to replace Mike Vrabel and develop Tennessee's young quarterback, Will Levis. Instead, Levis took a step backwards behind one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL, and the Titans finished the 2024 season with a 3-14 record -- which earned them the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. 

There was again optimism entering this season with a new quarterback in Cameron Ward, but the Titans did not show progress. Through six weeks, Tennessee's offense ranks dead last in yards per game (232.3) and second-worst in points per game (13.8). 

Titans under Brian Callahan (since 2024)

Apart from the borderline unwatchable offense, Callahan also made several errors in situational football that drew the ire of the fan base. 

Week 1: The surrendering of a halftime lead 

During the Week 1 loss to the Denver Broncos, Callahan surrendered what could have been a surprising 6-3 halftime lead for Tennessee by calling three straight pass plays inside his own 10-yard line with 47 seconds remaining in the second quarter. Callahan had called the game conservatively up until that point, so it was a very strange time to get aggressive. The first two pass attempts fell incomplete, while Ward was sacked at his own 1-yard line on third down. 

The Titans then punted the ball away from their own goal line, giving Denver possession in field goal range. That short field set up the first touchdown of the game -- a Courtland Sutton score right before the halftime break. Instead of leading at the halftime break, the Titans trailed. 

Week 1: Not knowing the rules (allegedly) 

In that same Week 1 matchup, Callahan failed to challenge what was a catch by rookie wideout Elic Ayomanor. On a play in the third quarter, the wide receiver came down on his elbow in-bounds with possession of the ball, which is a catch. In his postgame press conference, Callahan said Ayomanor needed to get a foot in as well. This is incorrect, as the NFL rulebook (Section 1 Article 3) states a forward pass is completed if a player (2.) "touches the ground inbounds with both feet or with any part of his body other than his hands."

The next day, Callahan said he just misspoke, and was aware of the rule.

"I misspoke," Callahan said, via ESPN. "I'm well aware of the rule, I understand how it works, and the way that I articulated it afterwards was incorrect. And I understand the rules of this game pretty well."

Week 3: The K-Ball fiasco

In Week 3, the Titans were blown out at home by Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts, 41-20. There was a very embarrassing sequence just before the halftime break in that matchup that upset everyone in Nissan Stadium.

The Titans were facing a fourth-and-1 from the Colts' 39-yard line with 42 seconds remaining in the second quarter. The Colts then called a timeout. Callahan was unsure whether he was going to keep his offense on the field, so he ended up calling a timeout following the Colts' timeout. Tennessee sent out kicker Joey Slye to attempt a 57-yard field goal, but the "K-Ball" was not substituted in for Slye to kick. The Titans took a delay-of-game penalty, which pushed the field goal attempt back to 62 yards. Slye's kick was blocked, and the Colts took over at the Titans 48-yard line. Indy's offense quickly picked up 30 yards on four plays to set up a 36-yard field goal. Instead of Tennessee heading into the locker room trailing 17-9, the Titans were down 20-6.

Week 4: The new play caller

Following the loss to the Colts, Callahan gave up play-calling duties to quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree. The swap did not spark the Titans offense, as Tennessee scored zero points while picking up just 175 yards of total offense in a 26-0 loss to the Houston Texans. It marked the first shutout loss for the Titans since 2019, and the largest since the infamous 59-0 loss to the New England Patriots in 2009. This marked the 10th straight loss for the Titans, which tied the longest losing streak since the franchise moved to Tennessee.

The Titans did earn their first win of the season in Week 5 thanks to a dramatic collapse by the Arizona Cardinals, who allowed 16 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. However, the Titans were unable to build on this newfound momentum against the Raiders on Sunday, as the offense went back to looking disjointed. Tennessee is the only NFL team to not have held a fourth quarter lead this season, and the 83 total points scored are the Titans' fewest through six games since 1985.

Week 7: Titans fire Callahan during 'Vrabel week'

It's worth mentioning that the Titans fired Callahan six days before welcoming their former lead man, Vrabel, back to Nashville, as the Titans will host the Patriots this Sunday. Tennessee made it so he will never have a chance to face the man that replaced him. 

"Well, I think it's going to feel different, [but] it can't be different," Vrabel said of the looming Titans matchup Monday morning before the Callahan news broke. "It has to be the way we prepare, the way that we try to put together a game plan. But ... we have to recognize the obvious, having spent time there. So [there's] a lot of people on the other side that I know that I coached or worked with."

Not long ago, the Titans were the No. 1 seed in the AFC and beating Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes in back-to-back weeks. Since that 2021 season, the Titans are 17-40, and have fired two coaches and two general managers. It truly has been a titanic collapse.