After week 6, with a record of 1-5, the Tennessee Titans cut ties with their head coach, Brian Callahan. Frankly, this is not a surprise. His tenure has been horrible and, even if the Titans weren’t a good roster to begin with, Callahan’s coaching seemed to move them backwards. This firing comes at a particularly hot moment in the season, with the Titans obviously not enjoying a great standing. The playoffs seem far away, although it’s still too early to draw any conclusions, especially at the start of the season. For those looking to bet on the Titans or other teams, the NFL odds listed by Oddschecker are a good solution for always finding the best returns and staying up-to-date on the statistics. American football is a numbers’ game and you can’t keep up with it without studying the statlines.
A franchise that wasn’t going anywhere
Callahan was appointed head coach in Nashville before the beginning of the last NFL season. In 2024, he won 3 games and lost 14. In 2025 he played 6 matches, winning only one of them, in surprising fashion. His record of 4-19 speaks plenty, but it wasn’t the main reason for his firing. Chad Brinker, the president of football operations in Tennessee, said that the decision is linked to the lack of growth the franchise experienced under Brian Callahan.
For a young team like the Titans, that recently benefitted of the first overall pick in the draft and spent it wisely on their potential franchise QB for the future, Cam Ward, growing is obviously of paramount importance. In this league, every franchise needs to rebuild after a cycle closes. The career of a pro athlete is not that long and wasting years without becoming better is something a NFL franchise won’t allow. There is money involved (a lot of money) and a program can’t stall that long.
Callahan has been a poor decision maker and an even worse trainer. Titans’ veterans speaking with local media said that their practice weeks were terrible and a Las Vegas Raiders’ defender, commenting on the week 6 game that saw Vegas roll past Tennessee without breaking a sweat, said that game wasn’t difficult at all, since they always knew what was about to happen.
When a player from a struggling team, like these Raiders, states that your playbook is easy to read and that the defense is always a step forward, you know you are not in great shape and won’t win a lot of games.
Why now?
After relieving Callahan of his duties, the Titans nominated Mike McCoy, previously senior offensive assistant, interim coach for the remainder of the season. A true search for a new head coach will probably begin after the end of the season. Should McCoy show poise, ability and ingenuity on the sideline, he may stand a chance to win the job. However, there are still a lot of games to be played.
Usually, NFL franchises wait somewhat longer before firing a head coach. These decisions are generally taken in the second half of the season, after Halloween, not before the midway point of October! This time, the front office hurried the decision and fired Callahan very early, sending a clear message to him, to the league, and to whoever may take his place in the future: we won’t tolerate failures. It is a bold statement, especially because their roster isn’t deep at all and they need a lot of pieces before they can actually expect to play meaningful football and win games in a streak.
McCoy’s task won’t be an easy one. Ward is a fabulous talent, of course, but he doesn’t have good protection. His offense is not elite, even if there are some names: Calvin Ridley is an excellent receiver. Tyler Lockett and Tony Pollard can score and give the Titans an edge, Cedric Gray and Jeffery Simmons are good at standing their ground and limit the opposing offense but this is about it. It is just not enough to stay relevant in the NFL. Let’s see what the interim coach can cook and hope he may put Ward in the conditions to grow and become an even better player than he already is.
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