It’s hard to describe the attitude in the Titans locker room as of Oct. 15, just two days after the franchise parted ways with coach Brian Callahan after a 4-19 start to his coaching career. He was not necessarily pessimistic. He was certainly not defeated. The closest word could be without shaking. Not disaffected. Simply a professional response to playing for a franchise that has made so many significant changes recently.
“It happened,” defensive captain Jeffery Simmons said. “We all have a job. Our job is to prepare and be ready for this week.”
“My job is to play quarterback,” rookie Cam Ward said. “My job is to help this team win. I’m going to support whatever decision we make. The guys in the locker room are going to support it. At the end of the day, coach or no coach, we’re trying to win football games.”
Ward spoke during the offseason about his desire for continuity from the coaching staff and how highly he thinks of Callahan. Now that Callahan has been fired, Ward is toeing the company lines. He chose not to answer a direct question about whether the change at the top was necessary, and said he is not frustrated by the immediate continuity change because he had to deal with coaching changes in college.
While that’s partially true, it’s because Ward transferred multiple times in college. He’s never played for a team that fired a coach after the season, much less after a third of it. Some Titans players, however, have been through situations like this.
Veteran safety Quandre Diggs, Ward’s cousin, was a rookie in Detroit in 2015 when, by Nov. 1, the Lions had already fired the team president, general manager, offensive coordinator and two other coaches. After starting 1-7, the Lions team went 6-2 down the stretch to nearly salvage a winning record.
“We just focused and got on a roll,” Diggs said. “Once you start winning and you figure out how to win, those things start to change the morale in the locker room and change the intensity. When you get into those close games, you learn how to win.”
Interim coach Mike McCoy has already made some small adjustments to the Titans’ process, hoping to make some changes to his liking. He’s adjusted the timing of some meetings, went a little longer during individual periods at practice and increased the pace during and between drills in service of a “you’re going to play the way you practice” mentality.
McCoy is also less sincere than Callahan as the voice of the franchise. He says he’s not the type of person to talk about injuries or schemes or strategies. When asked about his philosophy on being aggressive, he said it depends on the game. When asked about his philosophy on analytics, he said it depends on the moment. When asked about his coaching style, he simply said that he likes to win.
Players generally praise McCoy, but some acknowledge that McCoy is only in Callahan’s old job because the players didn’t do enough to protect their coach. As Hooker says, it’s not Callahan’s fault that he can’t go out on the field and catch passes or make tackles. The players have to do that. And they believe they are capable of doing it.
“It’s not that we don’t have the talent,” Hooker said. “We have the talent and we have guys who care about the ball. That’s what it takes.”
But, per Hooker’s original point, change creates change in the NFL. When the Titans host coach Mike Vrabel and the New England Patriots on Oct. 19 (noon CT, CBS), only four players who once played for Vrabel in Nashville are likely to be in the starting lineup. And remember, Vrabel was the Titans coach. only 24 games back.
Unless the Titans experience the kind of revitalization that Diggs and the 2015 Lions experienced, a new coach will arrive with new ideas and philosophies, and the old way will be out the window.
There’s only one way to avoid it.
“A guy like Cally, he’s…” Hooker said, pausing, “if we’d won, he wouldn’t have been fired.”
Nick Suss is the Titans writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X @nicksuss. Subscribe to Talkin’ Titans Newsletter to receive updates directly to your inbox.