The Tennessee Titans are 0-4 after Sunday's 24-18 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. They have tried new coaches, new general managers and high draft picks. What they haven't found lately is consistent winning. At some point, owner Amy Adams Strunk has to answer for the decisions that keep sending this franchise back into another rebuild.
The champions from the 2016 through 2025 seasons offer a useful comparison.
Every one of the last 10 Super Bowl champions had a head coach or GM in at least his seventh season with the team when they won. The median champion GM was in year 9, and the median head coach was in year 6.
— Titans-Desk (@mbottoms31) October 5, 2026
The Titans are in year 1 with Robert Saleh and year 2 with Mike… pic.twitter.com/xLPWjOSq0y
Nine of the last 10 champions had a head coach or top personnel executive in at least his seventh season in the role. The 10th, the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles, were built by Howie Roseman, who joined the team's front office in 2000 and first became GM in 2010.
Titans need to stay the course with Mike Borgonzi, Robert Saleh
That doesn't mean keeping someone employeed guarantees a championship. It means these teams had someone in charge who knew the organization and had years to build its roster. Even when the head coach was new, the front office wasn't. The Eagles, Bucs and Seahawks all won with second-year coaches, but each had a personnel chief who had been there for years. The Titans now have a first-year coach and a second-year GM.
Draft position wasn't the common thread, either. None of those 10 Super Bowls was won by a starting quarterback drafted in the top five. Two wrinkles: Carson Wentz, the Eagles' number 2 overall pick in 2016, was their starter until her got hurt, and Nick Foles took over and won the Super Bowl in 2017. And the Rams used the number 1 pick in 2016 on Jared Goff, then sent him and draft picks to Detroit for Matthew Stafford.
High picks and cap space give a team opportunities. Drafting, developing and keeping the right players determine what it does with them.
The Titans have their own evidence. With Jon Robinson at GM, they went 62–42 from 2016 through 2021, including the playoffs, posted six straight winning seasons, and made four playoff appearances. Strunk deserves credit for hiring him and Mike Vrabel. Those years also show why their departures deserved careful consideration.
Examining the decisions behind the constant Titans resets
Robinson's record doesn't erase his mistakes. The 2020–2022 first-round picks Isaiah Wilson, Caleb Farley and Treylon Burks failed to become the long-term contributors the Titans needed. Trading A.J. Brown and using the acquired first-round pick on Burks made the problem worse. Brown went on to win a Super Bowl with the Eagles.
There were legitimate reasons to question Robinson's roster decisions. But a disappointing season doesn't automatically mean a successful GM has nothing left to offer. He was in his seventh season when Strunk fired him in December 2022.
Vrabel's firing is harder to defend. He had lost 18 of his final 24 games, and Strunk said the team would benefit from a "fresh approach and perspective." Those struggles mattered. So did the winning seasons, an AFC Championship Game appearance, and the ability he had already shown to coach a contender.
Then Vrabel went 14–3 and took the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl in his first season. That doesn't tell us what he would have done with the Titans' roster. It does give fans a strong reason to question whether Strunk fired the right person.
Titans need to end the revolving door pattern
The Titans followed Vrabel's departure with consecutive 3–14 seasons and moved on from both Ran Carthon and Brian Callahan. Ownership is responsible for those hiring decisions, too.
Saleh and Borgonzi need a real shot to build this together. Saleh is in Year 1, and Borgonzi in Year 2. They have to deliver, though: better draft results, young players who take steps, and fewer holes from letting good players walk.
An 0-4 start will test ownership's patience early. Strunk has to judge their work without treating every setback as a reason to start over. The Titans have already spent enough seasons doing that.
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