With the Tennessee Titans scheduled to play on Sunday against the coach they fired to hire Brian Callahan, the NFL team fired Callahan on Monday afternoon.
Tennessee has a 1-5 record in 2025 after going 3-14 in Callahan’s first season at the Titans’ helm.
After five seasons as the Cincinnati Bengals’ offensive coordinator, Callahan replaced Mike Vrabel as Tennessee’s coach. Vrabel had a 54-45 record and three playoff appearances in six seasons with the Titans.
In his first season as New England’s coach, Vrabel has the Patriots at 4-2 after they won four games in each of the previous two seasons.
The Titans and Patriots will square off at noon CDT Sunday at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
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“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,” said Chad Brinker, the president of football operations for the Titans, in a statement released by the team. “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 team has not named an interim head coach.
After Tennessee lost to the Las Vegas Raiders 20-10 on Sunday, the Titans offense’s average of 232.3 yards per game is the worst in the NFL this season. Operating with 2025 No. 1 draft pick Cam Ward at quarterback, Tennessee’s 13.8 points per game scoring average is the next-to-worst. The Titans have scored one more point in 2025 than the Cleveland Browns.
Callahan’s firing extended a trend for teams taking quarterbacks at No. 1. The past four have now fired their head coach in the prize pick’s first season, with Callahan following Urban Meyer with the 2021 Jacksonville Jaguars, Frank Reich with the 2023 Carolina Panthers and Matt Eberflus with the 2024 Chicago Bears.
The Titans have six players on their roster with Alabama football roots:
Jalyn Armour-Davis, cornerback, St. Paul’s Episcopal, Alabama
J.C. Latham, offensive tackle, Alabama
Dorian Mausi, linebacker, Auburn
Roger McCreary, cornerback, Williamson, Auburn
Calvin Ridley, wide receiver, Alabama
Practice squad: Clay Webb, guard, Oxford, Jacksonville State
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