The Titans might be wasting their one last ride with Arthur Smith
There once was a man named Arthur, born into wealth and privilege that most would not be able to comprehend. For him, that grand level of monetary status was simply a reality, as his very own father co-founded one of the most profitable companies in the world.
But for Arthur, wealth and privilege were not enough. Arthur needed more than the simple luxury of financial security– and instead, set out on a journey to do the impossible. To give the Tennessee Titans offense an overhaul, and turn one of the NFL’s most pedestrian groups into one of league-wide renown.
Men of greater football standing than Arthur had tried. A humble tight ends coach with the Tennessee Titans franchise since 2013, Arthur had been passed up time in and time again for offensive minds with flashier resumes.
Ken Whisenhunt tried to revamp the offense in 2014– but could manage no better than the league’s 28th ranked scoring offense with a 3-20 record as a head coach through one season and a half with the team. Then it was Mike Mularkey, who met a similar fate. Followed by Matt Lafluer, an offensive coordinator and first-time play-caller of legend sent straight from the sought after coaching tree of Sean McVay, but Lafluer as well was stimied by the forever-broken Tennessee Titans offense.
Until, after six years of waiting in the wings, when Arthur got his chance. The offensive coordinator and sole play-caller of one of the most broken groups in the league. Talented, sure. But while Tennessee was forced to watch high-flying offenses in their own conference in the Kansas City Chiefs, and even offenses in their own division in the Houston Texans, the Titans were sputtering to the finish line with consistently low scoring groups. In Arthur’s first year, he would be taking over a group that finished 25th in yards gained and 27th in scoring, all while the highly-touted Lafluer was in charge.
What followed, however, was a revolution. In 2019, the Tennessee Titans finished with their first top ten scoring offense in over a decade, since the final days of the great Steve McNair and Eddie George in two-toned blue. Arthur, a man of football destiny, had given the Tennessee Titans an offense with potential that fans hadn’t seen since the early days of the franchise being the Tennessee Titans. And in 2020, Arthur has worked his magic once more and has given the team an offense even better than last year’s.