Former Tennessee Titans head coach and current Atlanta Falcons tight ends coach Mike Mularkey will see some familiar faces when both teams face one another on 9-29-19. Nearly two years have passed since Mularkey roamed the sideline during Tennessee’s 2017-18 AFC Wild Card victory against the Kansas City Chiefs. For Tennessee, that was their first playoff win in 14 years. It was their first playoff appearance in nine years. The 2017-18 season ended with an AFC Divisional Playoff loss to the eventual AFC champion New England Patriots.
The Titans appeared on the cusp of becoming competitive with the elite franchises. How did the franchise repay Mularkey for helping them reach heights that they hadn’t enjoyed in nearly a decade? Termination. Titans general manager Jon Robinson didn’t believe Mularkey could help the franchise go from “good to great.” The Titans hoped that a coaching change would have the same effect on them as it did when the Denver Broncos replaced John Fox with Gary Kubiak. Kubiak helped Denver win a Super Bowl before Peyton Manning retired.
Fans and critics questioned the franchise for terminating Mularkey. The 2014-15 and 2015-16 Titans combined to go 5-27. Mularkey finished 2015-16 as the interim coach. He was promoted to permanent head coach for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. Under his two years of supervision, Mularkey coached back-to-back winning seasons. His second season ended with a playoff win and an upward trajectory that suggested that the franchise was headed for greatness that it hadn’t enjoyed since the late-90s and early-00s.
Management disagreed. Ownership disagreed. Many fans disagreed. They felt Mularkey was unable to produce a consistent product. They believed that his presence was jeopardizing Marcus Mariota’s progression. It’s widely believed that this stems from reports that Mularkey refused to make certain coaching staff changes. Among those included replacing offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie. Retaining Mularkey would’ve doomed the franchise to mediocrity.
Here we are now. The man who replaced Mularkey was current Titans head coach Mike Vrabel. The Titans hoped that replacing Mularkey with Vrabel would become the NFL version of the Chicago Cubs replacing Rick Renteria with Joe Maddon. The move was expected to catapult them to the top. Early indicators suggest that it may have been more like replacing Dale Sveum with Renteria. Hell, maybe Robinson replaced his NFL version of Maddon with Sveum or Renteria? Never know.
It’s fair to give Vrabel a free pass for 2017-18’s failure. How many rookie head coaches could deal with a starting quarterback having 72,347 different injuries? All things considered, 9-7 wasn’t that bad. Had it not been for a couple questionable coaching choices (e.g. two-point conversion against Los Angeles Chargers), the Titans could’ve been 11-5. Had they not spent the first 11 games incorrectly utilizing Henry—something Mularkey wouldn’t have done—they don’t dig themselves a 5-6 hole.
No more get out of jail free cards. Vrabel’s second season hasn’t started off any better. The Titans are 1-2. They’ve suffered back-to-back divisional losses to Andrew Luck’s clipboard holder (Jacoby Brissett) and a sixth-round rookie backup quarterback (Gardner Minshew) who looks like he’s related to the lead singer of Midland. Mariota has regressed to the point that he looks like he should compete for a starting quarterback job with Jarrett Guarantano (I went too far. Sorry). Situational coaching mishaps cost Tennessee in both of those divisional matchups.
Say what you want about Mike Mularkey and his coaching staff—they had an identity. They wanted a smash-mouth football team complemented with a stout defense and reliable special teams. They wanted the type of team that Titans fans used to idolize when Eddie George wore down opposing defenses in the Southern humidity. DeMarco Murray gets tired? No problem–-Derrick Henry rested and ready to run over an already fatigued defense. And as hard as Robiskie’s offense was to watch, at least they used Mariota on roll-outs and zone reads. They made an attempt to use his mobility.
What about Coach Vrabel? Give him credit for the defense. Dean Pees was a fantastic hire for that unit. The defensive backfield is amazing when one considers how they can’t figure out how to generate a consistent pass rush. What matters is that they’re always within the top teams of points allowed. As long as the defense isn’t gassed from their offense not possessing the football long enough, then they’re a very reliable unit.
I’m confused as to why management and ownership felt a defensive-minded head coach with very little offensive background was the cure for Mariota and that offense. What even is the identity? I keep asking myself that question. Last year, it appeared as though they didn’t want to resort to Mularkey’s old-school style of smash-mouth football. Funny how the offense was most successful when they resort back to giving Henry 20-plus carries. Why did Robinson use a No. 5 pick on a wide receiver who they don’t even try to get going with screen passes? Corey Davis goes entire games without getting involved. Why? What is the identity?
Another topic of discussion is replacing an experienced head coach who just took a team into a postseason victory with someone whose coaching resume started in 2011. His sole season as Houston Texans defensive coordinator wasn’t impressive. Even young pups like Matt LaFleur (2003) and Sean McVay (2008) had been coaching well before that.
A ground-and-pound philosophy scares people because today’s NFL has turned that into such a scarcity. Another way to look at it is through the eyes of a contrarian. Why did Henry and Murray have so much success when presented an opportunity? Since more and more teams are copying each other as a pass-heavy league, opposing defenses must respond with more speed, e.g. smaller players. Now teams have less personnel and experience to stop bruiser running backs and running styles. If a team loses a nose tackle or their best interior run-defender? They won’t have the depth to compensate. That turns into a huge issue.
Instead of focusing so much on becoming “Patriots South” or copying the rest of the league when they’re hiring anyone who knows what brand of cologne Sean McVay wears, why not embrace the contrarian aspects that make this team stand out? Successful people embrace their wild side. They embrace contrarianism. It’s hard to game plan against a vastly different playing style that opponents will only see a handful of times per season.
Mike Mularkey needed one year to turn a 2-14, 3-13 team into a 9-7 team. He needed two years for a playoff win. Don’t forget that Mariota was injured for most of Mularkey’s second season. Vrabel needed one season to turn a 9-7 team into…9-7. What will we say after his second season?
We can only hope that Coach Vrabel turns it around. If he doesn’t? The irony of firing Mularkey was that he was fired for getting the team out of the depths of hell and only making them “Good.” If things don’t change, fans won’t say, “Good to great.” Those fans will say, “Good to mediocre.” Or, God forbid it gets this bad again, “Good to Hey! We meet again, Satan! Sup, Miami Dolphins! Mariota didn’t pan out, so we’re gonna spend the whole year in the depths of hell tanking for Trevor Lawrence!”
Maybe Tennessee sports fans can learn something here? They ran off Mike Mularkey. The Titans regressed. They ran off Jeff Fisher. The Titans regressed. They ran off Phillip Fulmer. The Volunteers regressed. And while I don’t care for Greg Schiano, the end result of that revolt turned into Jeremy Pruitt. It’s like God punishing Tennessee sports fans for ungratefulness. Each coach gets worse. Post-Fulmer Volunteers have gotten so bad that their fans long for the Lane Kiffin era.
I’m just saying. It wasn’t long before that playoff season when fans were watching a product headlining Ken Whisenhunt, Zach Mettenberger, Jake Locker, and Clipboard Jesus (Charlie Whitehurst). Why were we so ungrateful for what Mike Mularkey brought? Were we just impatient? I always felt he deserved at least one more season although I ended up buying into ownership’s message. Live and learn.
Yowie Wowie. Speaking of which, Bray Wyatt and the Titans have much in common. They’re both bipolar. The Titans just need more of “The Fiend” demeanor to show up during games. Not just while they’re showing off their wardrobes when entering planes on social media.
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Joshua Huffman was born and educated in Middle Tennessee. He has published content for Yahoo! Sports (via Contributor Network) and Titan Sized, among other venues. At SoBros, he’ll provide Daily Fantasy Sports suggestions and broad sports coverage. Follow him on Twitter (although I rarely use it).
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