Tennessee Titans' interim coach history dims hopes for Brian Callahan's replacement

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans' history with interim coaches offers little hope that firing coach Brian Callahan on Monday will pay off this season.

Jeff Fisher went 1-5 replacing Jack Pardee with the then-Houston Oilers in 1994. Mike Mularkey was 2-7 after Ken Whisenhunt was fired in 2014, and Mularkey kept the job for two more seasons before he was fired.

Now Mike McCoy, who was 27-37 in four seasons with the then-San Diego Chargers, gets 11 games to show what he can do with rookie quarterback Cam Ward and a team very much stuck in rebuilding mode.

“We’re not an efficient offense, so we have to try new things,” Ward said after the 20-10 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders and before Callahan’s firing. “We have to do our job as a whole because at the end of the day, the coaches only do so much. It’s the players that are playing. We just got to do our job.”

The Titans' woes preceded Callahan. Tennessee has now gone 47 games without stringing together consecutive wins.

Of Callahan's 19 losses, 11 came by 10 or more points. That included the team's first shutout since Oct. 13, 2019. The offensive woes worsened this season with the Titans off to one of the NFL's worst starts in the past two decades.

Tennessee has scored 83 points while averaging 3.94 yards per play. Only the 2019 Jets, the 2018 Bills in Josh Allen's rookie year, the 2009 Browns and Raiders in JaMarcus Russell's last season and the 2007 49ers have scored less than 84 points with 4 yards per play through six games in the past 20 seasons.

Only Cleveland (83) and Atlanta (76) have scored fewer points this season. Cincinnati is the only NFL team with a worse point differential (minus-80) than Tennessee at minus-78.

The Titans start slow, outscored 47-9 in the first quarter. They've managed five touchdowns through 24 quarters, topped 300 yards once and failed to top 225 yards in three games.

The defense. They did everything possible except score against the Raiders with a fumble recovery returned by linebacker Cody Barton reversed on review. They held the Raiders to 226 yards along with 68 yards rushing and 158 yards net passing — the fewest allowed by the Titans this season.

They also had eight tackles for loss, two sacks and an interception by Barton later off Geno Smith.

The offense. Forget scoring touchdowns when it matters most. The Titans continue struggling to pick up first downs, let alone threatening to reach an opponent's 20-yard line. Even after Barton's interception, the Titans went three-and-out.

They turned the ball over three times and gave up six sacks. Ward has been sacked an NFL-worst 25 times.

Jeffery Simmons. The three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle has 4 1/2 sacks this season with another sack against the Raiders. He had five all of last season. Simmons also had two tackles for loss and a couple of quarterback hits.

Callahan coached as many games as Whisenhunt (3-20) when he was fired in November 2015 as part of a 5-27 stretch over two seasons. Now Tennessee has lost more games each of the past three seasons with a 10-30 overall record.

WR Calvin Ridley couldn't finish the game with a hamstring injury. OLB Femi Oladejo couldn't return with a calf injury. OLB Arden Key (quadriceps muscle) and K Joey Slye (right calf) missed the Raiders game.

7 — The number of rookies that played for Tennessee against the Raiders. The Titans have played at least seven rookies in each of the first six games this season.

One blessing is five of the next six games are at home, and the Titans' bye looms Nov. 9. Unfortunately, that includes a visit Sunday from Tennessee's previous coach, Mike Vrabel, who brings the New England Patriots (4-2).

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