Sports

When NFL teams fire head coaches, they don't always seem to first ask an important question: Is the next coach going to be better? 

In the Tennessee Titans' case, the answer when they fired Mike Vrabel was a resounding no. It might be a while before they find someone as good as Vrabel. 

The Titans fired Brian Callahan after a 1-5 start on Monday. Firing a head coach that early in the season turns into a judgment of the franchise and what went wrong. In the Titans' case, a pivot point was in January of 2024 when they surprisingly fired a respected coach over a power struggle with general manager Ran Carthon. The GM would be fired a year later. 

Vrabel returns to Nashville this weekend as head coach of the New England Patriots, which will be a good reminder of the Titans' missteps and how bad things have gotten since firing him. Vrabel has the Patriots, who were 4-13 each of the past two seasons, off to a 4-2 start. The Titans are 4-19 since they fired Vrabel. Their timeline of firing and hiring mismatched general managers and coaches is a reflection of the ownership situation. There has been no plan. That should have been clear when they fired Vrabel, one of the best coaches in the NFL. It won't be a very attractive opening due to the roster deficiencies and skepticism about ownership. 

The Titans will look for yet another head coach, one who can develop quarterback Cam Ward a lot better than Callahan had been doing this season. The bigger problem was the Titans already had a very good coach, and didn't seem to understand it. 

Here are the NFL Power Rankings after six weeks of the NFL season: 

32 (previous ranking 32): New York Jets (0-6)

Justin Fields led an offense that had -10 net passing yards. He took nine sacks, and on most of them he held the ball too long. The Jets are broken and Fields’ play is a big reason. He had a great opportunity and he’s showing he’s not an NFL starting quarterback.

31 (31): Tennessee Titans (1-5)

The Titans fired Brian Callahan and that shouldn’t surprise anyone. He was 4-19 as their head coach. Mike McCoy, the former Chargers coach, takes over as the interim. Oftentimes there’s too much worry about the interim; it’s a horrible situation in Tennessee and McCoy can’t be worse than Callahan.

30 (30): Miami Dolphins (1-5)

The Dolphins are broken. They got what looked like a game-winning touchdown but couldn’t hold on for less than a minute and lost to the Chargers. Then Tua Tagovailoa called out teammates for coming late to players-only meetings or not showing up at all. Mike McDaniel is in trouble.

29 (27): New Orleans Saints (1-5)

The Saints are much better than the three teams ranked behind them, though that says more about the Jets, Titans and Dolphins. At least the Saints compete most weeks. They’re not an easy out for anyone, which isn’t a bad sign for head coach Kellen Moore.

28 (26): Cincinnati Bengals (2-4)

There were a few decent signs of life from the offense with Joe Flacco, which is fine. It’s still not good. And it's not like Flacco is some youngster who will get better as the season goes on. At least Ja’Marr Chase can catch some passes now.

27 (28): Las Vegas Raiders (2-4)

Beating the Titans doesn’t say much. The Raiders didn’t look good, the Titans are just far worse. Geno Smith still isn’t playing well. Ashton Jeanty had an inefficient day. How did this team win at New England?

26 (24): Cleveland Browns (1-5)

Dillon Gabriel didn’t have a good game against the Steelers, which is no big deal for a rookie in his second start … unless his backup is Shedeur Sanders, and then you get some really wild conspiracies and hot takes. The Browns voluntarily signed up for this.

25 (23): Arizona Cardinals (2-4)

The Cardinals had their first 400-yard game of the season on Sunday. They had been above only 293 yards once in their first five games. Week 6 was their first game with Jacoby Brissett at QB, not Kyler Murray. Make of that what you will.

24 (29): New York Giants (2-4)

Great win against the Eagles. But Giants fans have to be a little concerned that Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo won’t last all season with their devil-may-care attitude toward contact. It’s fun in the moment but not a long-term plan. Still, it’s a good time to be a Giants fan.

23 (22): Dallas Cowboys (2-3-1)

The 2025 Cowboys are the 2024 Bengals. Dak Prescott is playing at an MVP level (he won’t actually win the award because of the Cowboys’ record) and the team around him is screwing it up. Dallas' defense is really bad. The Cowboys have failed Prescott.

22 (25): Carolina Panthers (3-3)

The Panthers can’t just put Rico Dowdle back into a timeshare, right? Dowdle has an astonishing 473 yards from scrimmage the past two games. Yes, that was against Miami and Dallas and their horrible defenses, but Carolina needs to keep riding Dowdle and see where it goes.

21 (19): Baltimore Ravens (1-5)

The Ravens have the bye week to regroup. Over the next eight games here’s the Ravens’ schedule: vs. Bears, at Dolphins, at Vikings, at Browns, vs. Jets, vs. Bengals, vs. Steelers, at Bengals. There is a path for them to make a run.

20 (18): Houston Texans (2-3)

How good has the Texans’ defense been? Houston is allowing 12.2 points per game. Since the 1970 merger, the only teams at or better than that mark are the 2000 Ravens, 1986 Bears, 2000 Titans and 1978 Steelers. If the offense comes around, the Texans could get on a roll.

19 (17): Minnesota Vikings (3-2)

J.J. McCarthy has returned to practice but the Vikings aren’t committing to his status for Week 7. There are two questions for McCarthy when he returns: if he can stay healthy, and if he can play much better than we saw to start this season.

18 (12): Washington Commanders (3-3)

There was no Hail Mary to beat the Bears this time. The Commanders caught a lot of breaks last season, and that's hard to replicate. On Monday, a botched handoff was fumbled away and led to a rough loss. The Commanders are fine at 3-3, but some regression was inevitable.

17 (20): Chicago Bears (3-2)

Caleb Williams played well, and then when the Bears caught a break on a big fumble, they let D'Andre Swift be the closer. Swift's big runs got the Bears in range for a game-winning field goal. That's a big win for Chicago, and revenge for a heartbreaking loss at Washington last season.

16 (9): San Francisco 49ers (4-2)

It might be unfair to rank the 49ers this low, but the injury to linebacker Fred Warner is a bad one. The defense might really struggle without Warner and Nick Bosa. The offense will be fine no matter who is playing on that side. The defense is an issue that could derail the season.

15 (15): Pittsburgh Steelers (4-1) 

The Steelers are 4-1. The rest of the AFC North is 4-14. This is not how anyone saw this division playing out. Mike Tomlin is doing a good job. That’s nothing new.

14 (8): Jacksonville Jaguars (4-2)

The Jaguars lost at home, but it was to a good Seahawks team. Some things looked good: Trevor Lawrence played well, and the run defense was very good. The Jaguars will be good, just maybe a step short of elite.

13 (21): Atlanta Falcons (3-2)

Atlanta's win over the Bills on Monday night was one of the most impressive of the season. They dominated a Super Bowl favorite on both sides of the ball. The offense is really good and the defense might be, too. This is a team to watch.

12 (13): Los Angeles Chargers (4-2)

The Chargers can be happy with the win, but they’re lucky they were facing the Dolphins, who are one of the NFL’s worst teams. One positive from Sunday was that Kimani Vidal looked good at running back with 124 rushing yards, though the Dolphins can make any back look good.

11 (11): Los Angeles Rams (4-2)

The Rams won’t be the same if Puka Nacua misses time with an ankle injury. They were outgained by a bad (at the moment) Ravens team Sunday, though still won fairly easily. A trip to London to face the Jaguars doesn’t come at a great time.

10 (16): New England Patriots (4-2)

It’s hard to find too much fault with the Patriots, but their run game needs to improve. Drake Maye led the team in rushing Sunday. The Patriots' 3.5 yards per carry ranks 29th in the NFL. And they’re winning despite those issues running the ball.

9 (14): Seattle Seahawks (4-2)

The Seahawks are good. They thoroughly outplayed a Jaguars team that was 4-1 and coming off a win over the Chiefs. The Seahawks are the only team to rank in the top four of DVOA on offense, defense and special teams. And given injuries to the Rams and 49ers, Seattle is in a good place.

8 (10): Kansas City Chiefs (3-3)

Kansas City hasn’t gone anywhere. The win over the Lions showed they’re still a good team, just one whose luck in close games has turned bad. With Rashee Rice coming back, it’s going to get only better. Not great news for those who hate the Chiefs.

7 (7): Green Bay Packers (3-1-1)

The Packers did enough to beat the Bengals, but it still wasn’t close to the world-beating team from the first two weeks. The Packers are still good, but maybe not quite the team they looked like very early this season. That will be determined when the schedule gets tougher.

6 (3): Philadelphia Eagles (4-2)

The Eagles are a bit of a mess right now, but they’ll be fine. There’s too much talent on hand to fail. It just doesn’t look particularly good the past couple weeks, but that happens. It happened to the Eagles last September. It’ll turn around, just with a lot of Philly angst as the Eagles fix things.

5 (6): Denver Broncos (4-2) 

Denver is a good team but its offense needs to get better. The only reason everyone wasn’t focused on the Broncos’ offensive problems is that the Jets’ offense was more hideous. The Broncos can win the AFC West. But not if the offense doesn’t find more consistency.

4 (2): Buffalo Bills (4-2)

The Bills' nearly perfect runout in September has taken some hits in October. The loss to Atlanta was troubling because the defense was torched for 355 yards in the first half alone and the offense did almost nothing. There are some issues to clean up.

3 (5): Indianapolis Colts (5-1)

The Colts weren’t great Sunday, but getting a win without playing well is telling too. It’s a long season and not every performance will be impressive. One thing is clear: Rookie tight end Tyler Warren is a star. What a first-round steal for the Colts.

2 (1): Detroit Lions (4-2)

There shouldn’t be much worry about the Lions. They lost on the road to an urgent Chiefs team with many injuries in the secondary. It happens. Detroit is still an excellent team, assuming its injury luck turns a bit.

1 (4): Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-1)

Are the Buccaneers the best team in the NFL? Probably not. They have had an unsustainable run in close games. But they keep winning games, which isn't the case for just about everyone else. And eventually they're going to improve as they get healthier.