The Tennessee Titans have fired Brian Callahan less than two years after hiring him as the team’s head coach.
The organization announced the news Monday afternoon, a day after the Titans dropped to 1-5 following a 20-10 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. Soon after, the Titans announced that Mike McCoy will serve as the team's interim head coach. Though hired by Tennessee as senior offensive assistant just this year, McCoy previously coached the San Diego (now Los Angeles) Chargers from 2013 to 2016, and spent the past three years as Jacksonville’s quarterbacks coach.
Tennessee this Sunday faces the New England Patriots and former coach Mike Vrabel, whom Callahan was hired to replace in January 2024. Vrabel is leading a Patriots team that is 4-2.
Callahan, who had been Cincinnati’s offensive coordinator for five years, simply never gained any traction during his tenure in Tennessee, finishing with a 4-19 overall mark. The Titans went 3-14 in 2024, losing their last six games of the regular season.
Callahan had been signed to a five-year contract.Â
Coming off of a wretched season, the Tennessee Titans are rebuilding — again
The team drafted quarterback Cam Ward with the No. 1 overall pick in April, but he has struggled out of the gate in his rookie season. Ward has committed eight turnovers in six contests, throwing four interceptions and losing four fumbles.
Tennessee has been bad on both sides of the line this season, but especially dreadful on offense.
Through six games, the Titans rank last in total yards (232.3 per game), 31st in passing yards (150.5 per game), 31st in rushing yards (81.8 per game) and 31st in points (13.8 per game). The team has scored one first-half touchdown this season.
It didn’t help that Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, a team captain, said after Sunday’s loss in Las Vegas that Tennessee had its worst practice week of the season leading up to the game against the Raiders.
Callahan served as the team’s play-caller all last season and through the first three games of this year. He turned those duties over to quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree going into Week 4, but the Titans have managed a combined total of only 31 points over the past three contests.
Chad Brinker, the Titans’ president of football operations, issued the team’s official statement, saying the franchise was committed to patience in building a winning football program — but that Callahan hadn’t made enough improvement.
“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,” Brinker says in the 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.”
Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk has now fired two general managers and two coaches in less than three years.
The cuts began with former GM Jon Robinson in December 2022, followed by Vrabel in January 2024, former general manager Ran Carthon in January 2025 and Callahan on Monday.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
