Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan has had enough of the Will Levis experience. After the quarterback played a four-turnover game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Callahan made the decision to bench his sophomore signal caller. It'll be Mason Rudolph that starts against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, and presumably, for the rest of the season.
Callahan was hired to install a modern offense and maximize Levis' development. The jury remains out on the former, but the latter was obviously a failure by all parties involved. By removing Levis from the lineup, Callahan is signaling that his struggling offense is being held back by negligent quarterback play.
There needs to be evidence of that being the case down the stretch.
The Titans are 3-11 and own the league's third-worst point differential at negative-125. Callahan's offense is averaging a sixth-worst 301 yards per game. That supposed modern passing attack is the lesser of two units, averaging a seventh-worst 190.6 passing yards per outing. The offense has been carried by running back Tony Pollard. And of course, they are scoring a 27th-ranked 18.1 points.
The Titans hired an offensive-minded coach, but it's the defense, one Callahan has little input on (though he hired a good defensive coordinator in Dennard Wilson), that's been the identity of the rudderless 2024 Titans.
If Levis is largely to blame for the offense's ineffectiveness, then it should improve with Rudolph under center. Sunday won't be Rudolph's first start of the campaign. He started three consecutive games while Levis was sidelined with a shoulder injury. The Titans averaged 14.6 points throughout that stretch, needing overtime to defeat the New England Patriots, also enduring consecutive embarrassing losses to the Super Bowl contending Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions.
There were fleeting moments of improved effectiveness under Rudolph, but it still fell short of offseason expectations. Think better, but nowhere near good enough. Callahan's offense surpassed 400 yards of offense versus the Lions, but it benefited from a vanilla Aaron Glenn defense that had a sizable second-half lead to protect. Rudolph also committed seven turnovers in those three starts, and he was fortunate to avoid additional mishaps, proving Tennessee's sloppiness on offense isn't attributed to Levis alone.
The Titans will soon enter the offseason searching for Levis' replacement. With three remaining games, Callahan needs to prove that his offense has been held back by Levis' poor execution. Before owner Amy Adams Strunk invests in another quarterback for this regime, Callahan must showcase that he's capable of delivering on his offseason promises.