The Tennessee Titans are entering Year 2 of the Brian Callahan era after moving on from Mike Vrabel following the 2023 season. Vrabel took a year off from coaching in 2024 but accepted a head coaching job with the New England Patriots this offseason.
The move made sense for Vrabel considering he spent the twilight of his playing career with the Patriots and might have what it takes to make that team a contender again. But we're not here to talk about Vrabel's pending tenure with his new team.
Vrabel recently appeared on the Bussin' With the Boys podcast (hosted by two of Vrabel's former players Taylor Lewan and Will Compton) and spoke about the day he was fired by the Titans. The former Titans head coach said he was s***-canned by the organization.
“You walk upstairs… And I just said, ‘Give me an hour, and I’ll be out of here. I just wanna talk to my staff.’ … Everybody makes decisions, and they said, ‘Any questions?’ And I said, ‘No. I got the point. I got the drift,'” Vrbael told Compton and Lewan. "At that point, no, there was no discussion. I heard the message, and I just said, ‘Give me an hour, I’d like to talk to my staff and I’ll box my stuff up."
Mike Vrabel reveals just how cold his Titans firing really was
The Titans hired Vrabel in 2018 and the team had back-to-back 9-7 seasons right out of the gate. In Vrabel's second year on the job, the Titans shocked the world by reaching the AFC Championship Game after taking down the dynastic Patriots and the Ravens in their first two playoff games.
In 2021, Vrabel's Titans landed the number one overall seed in the AFC playoffs but were bounced in the first round by the Bengals (who, for what it's worth, made the Super Bowl that season). Vrabel was crowned Coach of the Year for his efforts in 2021 and it felt like the Titans had their head coach of the future.
Unfortunately, the team stumbled in 2022 and 2023, suffering losing records for the first time in Vrabel's tenure and he was let go following the disappointing 6-11 season in 2023. Many thought he'd end up in New England coaching the team he played with for eight years in the 2000s but that didn't happen. He spent the year with the Browns as a coaching and personnel consultant and then rejoined the head coaching ranks this year.
It's unfortunate to see how cutthroat this business is but the Titans clearly had decided they were ready to move on and axed Vrabel when they believed it wasn't going to work out for the two sides. It's a business and we'll see if the Titans come to regret parting ways with him.