In a statement announcing the firing of Mike Vrabel, Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk hinted at the reason for a separation.
“As the NFL continues to innovate and evolve, I believe the teams best positioned for sustained success will be those who empower an aligned and collaborative team across all football functions,” she wrote. In case you haven’t brushed up on this particular dialect of Rich Powerful Folk, Vrabel was either able to fight his way out of a sinking ship, Strunk is backing the power of more recently hired general manager Ran Carthon and wants a head coach who is cheaper and easier to control, or the Titans legitimately believe that Vrabel isn’t the best coach for their organization and was impacting their shot at total alignment.
If the third reason is indeed true, it’s absolutely ridiculous and embarrassing for the Titans, but that’s besides the point. We’re here to discuss something else that is both ridiculous and embarrassing.
Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK
It doesn’t really matter why the Titans moved on from Vrabel on Tuesday (even though, again, a straight-up firing, which is what this situation looks like, will be an absolute pock mark on this organization for decades). What matters is that the team got absolutely nothing for one of the most sought-after coaches in the NFL. A report from The Athletic suggested a trade wasn’t consummated or even entertained because, basically, it would take too long. I appreciate the honesty from someone inside that organization. No reason to net the franchise an extra first-round draft pick (plus more, potentially) if it’s going to require working on the weekends or anything. Probably don’t need to cut the grass on the field, or wash the jerseys, either. Just get to it if and when you can!
This is what separates the top-flight organizations in the NFL from the perpetually relegated portion of the league, which fields a competitive roster by accident once in a blue moon and generates a cute story line. If the San Francisco 49ers were losing Kyle Shanahan or the Baltimore Ravens were losing John Harbaugh, they would flip the team behind their coach’s wandering eye upside down like a mob enforcer and drain their pockets first.
First, the team let A.J. Brown walk and tried to swap him with a cheaper replacement. Now, I’m starting to sense the pattern.
Sean Payton cost real draft capital. Jon Gruden, who, even before winning a Super Bowl, cost real and significant draft capital. Vrabel, at least on his way out, would have been able to help the Titans recover via significant draft capital.
In almost each and every season Vrabel has been in the NFL, he’s outcoached his expected win-loss record. The Titans had an offense built around Ryan Tannehill and a running back the size of Kevin Nash and nearly toppled the Bengals in the playoffs the year Cincinnati went to the Super Bowl. The Titans were the team that knocked the snot out of the Ravens in the divisional round of the playoffs the year Baltimore went 14–2 and looked unbeatable. Vrabel had that locker room wrapped around his finger and was a responsible steward of the brand in a rapidly developing Nashville market.
How bad could it have possibly gotten for them not to fight for Vrabel? How could they not have appreciated what they had? How could they not have offered him more power, more resources, more of a say in some of their bigger decisions?
How could someone have possibly convinced the Titans of this nebulous success strategy that we so often praise but cannot understand? Organizational alignment is a meaningless buzzword that almost never exists in the NFL. Do you know what wins games? Really good players. Maniacal head coaches. Big, mobile quarterbacks with rocket arms. Play-callers who would rather rip their own eyes out than allow a first down. People who care as much as Vrabel cares about winning.
How little do they fear that Vrabel could very well be waiting out the conclusion of the Bill Belichick saga, and taking a straight shot up 81 North to Foxborough, where he’ll have that team back in contention for the conference title within two years? If the Belichick and Vrabel rumors were merely palace chatter, they shouldn’t be now. Every team looking for a head coach should be ripping up the battle plan and seeing whether they can convince Vrabel to give them a few minutes of his time.
What a sad day for Titans fans. What a sad day for their players. What a sad situation that there isn’t even a draft pick sitting on the table for people to dream about. If the Titans cared this little about the head coaching position in general, then why care about the expedited process of hiring a replacement? There is no chance Tennessee gets anyone nearly as good as Vrabel, and if it does, it will be by complete accident. Then, it can start the process of shoving that person out the door with its pronounced indifference toward winning games.
