Things have been bad, but the rookie head coach deserves some time
While I am of the belief that the biggest problem with the Tennessee Titans has been Will Levis, yesterday proved that Levis is far from the only problem they have. Mason Rudolph started and played the whole game. The Titans still only managed to score 10 points. Plenty of the problems that we saw with Levis under center were still there.
A lot was made of Callahan’s decision to go for it on 4th and 2 on the Titans’ first drive of the second half. To put it into context, the Titans were up 10-0 and the ball was at the Tennessee 44-yard line. On third down they handed the ball to Tony Pollard and lost a yard. Callahan decided to give to Pollard again on the 4th down play and they lost 3 yards.
Callahan said after the game that analytics said it was a “dealer’s choice” on whether to go or punt there. Given the context of the game I would have punted, but it wasn’t a terrible decision. I have a bigger issue with the play call than the decision to go.
All of that to say, I didn’t have a huge issue with the decision to go. The bigger issues have been the inability to get the right personnel on the field and the play in before the play clock runs down. The Titans had to take two timeouts in the first half yesterday because they couldn’t get lined up. That’s inexcusable.
There is also the issue of not being able to score points in the second half of games. They have only scored 12 points in the 4th quarter this season and they all came in the win over the Miami Dolphins. While too much is made of “halftime adjustments,” there is no doubt that Callahan isn’t doing enough to adjust as the game goes along.
None of that should be a huge surprise with a rookie head coach. There is going to be a learning curve that comes with being a head coach for the first time. Callahan deserves patience as he works through these things. Calling for his head right now is crazy.
With all of that being said, if the Titans are still having these same issues at the end of this season it’s a different conversation, but for now, let’s see if Callahan and staff can resolve some of these issues.