By definition, "self-inflicted negatives" (SINs) are issues that the Tennessee Titans players have to fix themselves. The Titans were penalized on 10 occasions in Sunday's Week 2 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, and blaming the coaching staff doesn't make sense.
This all goes back to head coach Brian Callahan coining the term SINs earlier this offseason. That acronym picked up steam, as Callahan made it a point to say that the Titans were going to work on having fewer self-inflicted negatives in 2025 as they tried to clean up their play in Cam Ward's rookie year.
Everything looked like it was working in the preseason when the Titans were one of the least penalized teams in the NFL. However, after two weeks, everything has shifted with the team now leading the league in penalties per game. This has somehow been twisted as a reason why Callahan should be fired, but that doesn't make sense.
Titans HC Brian Callahan not to blame for persistent penalty issues
The Mike Vrabel era made it clear that penalties aren't a coaching issue, but that there is probably a correlation between overall roster talent and penalties. Look at the number of penalties the team was called for each year in the Vrabel era (lower number is better):
2018: 1st in penalties
2019: 9th
2020: 11th
2021: 13th
2022: 28th
2023: 27th
The Titans had a strong core when Vrabel was handed the job, and the franchise did a good job supplementing their roster in the early Vrabel/Jon Robinson era. The wheels fell off after the 2021 season, and it didn't take long for the penalties to catch up to them.
Similarly, the Titans are in the early stages of a rebuild, and they aren't very talented. The Titans opted to save their money this offseason and do minimal patchwork on the roster as they focused on the "draft-and-develop" process. Part of that decision meant that the 2025 team was going to struggle to contend with better teams.
Despite the urge that fans have to blame the coaching staff for these errors, Vrabel, who coined the phrase "Don't do dumb [stuff] that hurts the team," couldn't keep his team from doing dumb stuff that hurt them when they started losing. Why are we expecting this coaching staff to magically be able to control those things?
Instead, focus on the penalties and who committed them:
1. Ineligible downfield: Kevin Zeitler (offense)
2. False start: John Ojukwu (offense)
3. False start: Blake Hance (offense)
4. False start: John Ojukwu (offense)
5. Lined up in the neutral zone: Dre'Mont Jones (defense)
6. Defensive holding: L'Jarius Sneed (defense)
7. Horse collar: Cedric Gray (defense)
8. Holding: James Williams (special teams)
9. Blindside block: Cedric Gray (special teams)
10. Illegal formation: Jaylen Harrell (special teams)
Which one of those calls can you put on the coaching staff? Is it one of the three false starts by backup offensive linemen? Or the horse collar that Gray was called for when it saved a touchdown? Or the ticky-tack blindside block and ineligible downfield calls? You are grasping for straws and just trying to reinforce your own narrative if you think any of those issues fall on the coaching staff's shoulders.
The only one you could argue is the illegal formation penalty, and that falls on Bones Fassel who has been nothing short of incredible this season.
It is alright to be frustrated with a rebuilding team that is trying to pull itself out of the mud. The Titans are struggling against much more talented opponents right now. However, there are plenty of things to complain about with this roster, which is the true culprit of its penalty woes.