What went wrong with Marcus Mariota that led to the Tennessee Titans benching him six games into the 2019 season?
The Marcus Mariota era has come to an end with the Tennessee Titans set to name Ryan Tannehill as the starter moving forward. So, what went wrong with Mariota during his Titans tenure?
The first thing most will point to are injuries. Mariota never played a full 16-game season since being taken No. 2 overall in the 2015 NFL Draft.
He’s dealt with a slew of injuries over the years, including a laundry list of them in 2018, and it can certainly be argued that those injuries both hurt his confidence and hindered his progression.
Some of those injuries were a result of him taking too many chances on the field, but others can be attributed to the organization failing to put the necessary pieces around him in order to protect him.
He’s played behind some suspect — and in the case of 2019, downright putrid — offensive lines that failed to keep him upright. In this season alone, Mariota has been sacked an astounding 29 times in six games, the most in the NFL. It’s amazing he’s been able to stay healthy.
If it wasn’t the offensive line, Mariota had a lack of weapons to throw to. It wasn’t until 2019 that the Oregon product had the best group of pass-catchers of his career, but of course he had a tough time taking advantage of such a group thanks to constant pressure.
On the flip side of that coin, Mariota displayed inaccuracy in this throws and poor pocket presence that only made utilizing those improved weapons more difficult.
A lack of continuity is another thing.
The Titans quarterback has seen three different head coaches and five different offensive coordinators in five years. The blatant irresponsibility of an organization allowing that to happen when trying to groom a quarterback of the future is simply inexcusable.
The team had several opportunities to get it right and was never able to, or in the case of Matt LaFleur, had one poached away. Even the current offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith, looks like yet another swing and a miss by the Titans.
The 2019 season has been a perfect example of Mariota’s time with the Titans: as much as he has failed the Titans, the Titans have failed him just as much, if not more.
And it has led us to this point. Anyone who lays the blame all on one side or the other isn’t telling the whole story. Teams are responsible for putting their quarterback in the best position to succeed, and when that doesn’t happen, only the truly great quarterbacks can overcome it.
In this case, the Titans didn’t do their job, and Marcus Mariota simply wasn’t the kind of quarterback who could overcome the adversity the way you’d expect such a high draft pick to be able to.
Now all that’s left is to think about what could have been if one or both sides had lived up to their end of the bargain.