A new head coaching vacancy opened in Nashville after the Tennessee Titans and Mike Mularkey agreed to part ways this morning as they were unable to come to an agreement about the best way to move forward with the team.
Despite having played in their first divisional round game since 2003 and having defeated the Kansas City Chiefs for their first playoff win since 2008, the Titans front office was apparently increasingly frustrated with the lack of development from Marcus Mariota under Mularkey and his staff.
Although the front office was considering the firing of Mularkey since week 17 they had been putting it off. After they defeated the Chiefs in the wild-card round they decided to wait and see how far they could go before axing him.
Mularkey’s departure was triggered by his refusal to make changes to his coaching staff that the front office wanted to see because they believed they would help the development of Mariota.
Reportedly Mularkey could move on to become the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator, while the Titans are reportedly interested in talking to Mark Vrabel, the Texans defensive coordinator to replace Mularkey.
Mularkey’s change was also a consequence of the Titans offensive numbers went back backward from last season. The running game was down 22 yards per game, the passing game was also down 22 yards per game, third-down conversions were down 11 percent and Mariota’s overall numbers were also down compared with last season.
Although the defensive numbers improved, the offense regressed and so in a look at how to take the team forward, they just could not agree on what the best way was to go.
Based on the issues that were a factor in Mularkey’s departure it’s safe to draw the conclusion that the next Titans head coach would likely be an offensive-minded coach but, even if he’s not, he should be someone who can lead the entire program, backed up by an experienced staff loaded with quality offensive people.
Despite the Titans looking like a team in disarray due to the sudden decision, the truth is that whoever takes over will not face such a bad situation. The new head coach will be taking over a playoff team that is millions under the salary cap and with a young, yet solid franchise quarterback.
Marcus Mariota thus will play for his third head coach in 2018. Titans general manager Jon Robinson is confident Mariota will be able to adapt to change and guide the franchise to the top because he’s resilient and a very mentally tough guy.
