The Tennessee Titans have fired Brian Callahan just six games into his second season as head coach. Callahan finishes his Titans‘ tenure with a 4-19 record, including a 1-5 start this season. His .174 winning percentage ranks as the fifth-worst for any head coach since 1970 with a minimum of 20 games.
“After extended conversations with our owner and general manager, we met with Brian Callahan this morning to tell him we are making a change at head coach,” Tennessee’s president of football operations Chad Brinker said in a statement. “These decisions are never easy, and they become more difficult when they involve people of great character. We are grateful for Brian’s investment in the Titans and Tennessee community during his tenure as head coach. We thank him and his family for being exemplary ambassadors of the Tennessee Titans.
“While we are committed to a patient and strategic plan to build a sustainable, winning football program, we have not demonstrated sufficient growth. Our players, fans, and community deserve a football team that achieves a standard we are not currently meeting, and we are committed to making the hard decisions necessary to reach and maintain that standard.”
The Titans have yet to announce an interim coach or any other personnel moves following Callahan’s firing.
The Build-up to Callahan’s Firing
Just last week, Callahan was handing out game balls to an exuberant Titans locker room after the team notched its first win of the season in a 22-21 thriller over the Arizona Cardinals. It was No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward’s first career victory. There was a glimmer of hope that the team had turned the corner following a frustrating 0-4 start, in which most games were non-competitive. Yet, after the Titans fell 20-10 to an underachieving Raiders team on Sunday, the team’s front office decided to make a change. Tennessee has the second-worst margin of defeat this season, at -13.0 points per game.
The numbers, in most facets, are disappointing. The Titans are scoring the second-fewest points per game (13.8) and gaining the fewest yards per game (232.3). Meanwhile, they have surrendered the 11th-most yards per game (343.3) and seventh-most points per game (26.8). Ward has also been sacked 25 times in only six games, the most in the league by a significant margin.
With former Titans head coach Mike Vrabel coming to town in Week 7, ownership may have been compelled to fire Callahan before he could be beaten by the man he was hired to replace.
Failures That Led to the Team’s Decision
According to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, Titans ownership was initially opposed to making an in-season coaching change. “But it spiraled out of control—things felt off, there were head-scratching moves, no true direction or improvement—and they made the switch today,” Schultz tweeted.
Kevin Patra of NFL.com writes, “Callahan regularly made avoidable coaching errors. The onset of the season portended the epic failures that would dissolve the Titans‘ season before it got off the ground.”
Hours before Callahan was fired, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell included him on a list of players and coaches on the hot seat. “In terms of game management, it’s hard to argue that Callahan has been up to the task,” Barnwell writes. “He was involved in a bizarre controversy in Week 1, where he neglected to challenge an incomplete pass call on Titans receiver Elic Ayomanor because he had only an elbow inbounds. (One elbow, as you probably know, equals two feet.) In Week 2, the Titans were lined up for a 57-yard field goal, only for Callahan’s indecisiveness to lead to a delay of game penalty, with the ensuing 62-yarder getting blocked. In Week 4, while trailing 26-0 to the Texans and inside his own 5-yard line with 1:50 to go, Callahan handed the ball to Tony Pollard three consecutive times, putting unnecessary hits on the 28-year-old’s body.”
Callahan now has the dubious distinction of being the first coach fired during the 2025 season, but he likely won’t be the last.
What’s Next for Tennessee
After three consecutive seasons below .500, it appears 2025 will continue to be a rebuilding year for the Titans. Only four teams in NFL history have made the playoffs after starting 1-5.
The rest of the season will have several focuses aside from the team’s record, with Ward’s development at the top. Despite modest numbers, the 23-year-old QB has shown flashes of both poise and playmaking ability to start his career. It hasn’t been the ascendant rookie season of quarterbacks like Jayden Daniels or C.J. Stroud, but it’s been promising nonetheless, especially considering the Titans’ talent-deficient offense.
Tennessee will, of course, look to add players around Ward and ideally compete for a playoff spot next season. The team currently has seven picks in the 2026 NFL Draft. By the time April rolls around, a new head coach will likely be involved in the decision-making process for Tennessee.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Titans Fire Head Coach Brian Callahan in Second Dismal Season appeared first on Heavy Sports.