Ex-Bengals OC Brian Callahan is totally in over his head with Titans

It does not appear that former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan is long for his job as head coach of the Tennessee Titans. 

The Titans hired Callahan as head coach in 2024 after he spent four years as the offensive coordinator for Zac Taylor in Cincinnati. But like Taylor, Callahan was not the play-caller for the team he departed from. 

Unfortunately for Callahan and the Titans, things have not worked out as anyone had wanted in Tennessee. 

Titans fans hoped for a Bengals-like run

While with the Los Angeles Rams, Taylor was the quarterbacks coach. He was fourth in line in play-calling duties behind head coach Sean McVay, passing game coordinator Shane Waldron, and running game coordinator Aaron Kromer. That is to say that Taylor was nowhere near running the play sheet in L.A.

At least Callahan was closer to those responsibilities for a team that appeared in a Super Bowl than Taylor was. Callahan shared Taylor’s trajectory, which led both coaches to two consecutive AFC Championship games and one Super Bowl appearance.

Taylor won two games in his first season, scoring the first overall draft pick and landing franchise quarterback Joe Burrow. The Titans went 3-14 in Callahan’s inaugural season, grabbing the first overall pick and taking Cam Ward out of Miami.

That’s where the comparisons end. 

The Titans would love for Callahan’s regime to have a shot at conference championships and a Super Bowl appearance. However, they are a lot closer to securing another first overall draft pick than they are to a playoff birth. And they are closer to doing so with a different head coach at the helm.

Cincinnati’s talent was overwhelming during their run, despite questionable offensive schemes and disappointing offensive line play. However, believe it or not, the offensive scheme in Tennessee is even more dubious, and the o-line is not much better than the Bengals’ without the same level of talent at other positions.

Titans' play-calling shake-up has no fizz

It is not a good look when an organization brings in a head coach because of his offensive mind, only for that coach to relinquish the play-calling responsibilities after the beginning of his second season on the job. Nevertheless, just last week, Callahan announced that he would give up play-calling in an attempt to shake up their stagnant offensive production. 

The decision to install Bo Hardegree as the shot caller proved futile as the Titans scored zero points on Sunday versus the Houston Texans in a game they lost 26-0.

The Titans are the worst team in the NFL. Their point differential is a league-worst -69. Their offense, for which Callahan went in as an offensive genius, has scored the fewest points in the NFL, 51, through four games. 

And to bring it around to the Taylor-Callahan comparison, at no point has Taylor ever indicated that he would be willing to hand over the call sheet to someone else. And the more you ask him about it, the more entrenched he becomes. 

Callahan already gave up his play-caller role. So, where does he go from here? He should have been more stringent in preventing that from happening. 

Point of no return for Brian Callahan in Tennessee

If you were watching the NFL’s Red Zone hoping to see the Titans’ offense at some point, you are still holding your breath. That is because they never made it that far against the Texans. 

The cracks are showing, and the frustration is overflowing. However, at least their rookie quarterback is being honest when speaking to the media, resulting in epic press conferences. 

There is no coming back from this for Callahan. If Tennessee’s front office plans on going in another direction at the end of the season, they should pull the ripcord today and let someone else on the coaching staff serve as interim head coach. 

But if/when Callahan gets let go, he will not be out of a job for long. He will land on his feet as a consultant for a team in 2025 before landing a coordinator job in 2026. As the Mandalorian creed says, "This is the way."

For now, we should expect that Cincinnati's former offensive coordinator, Callahan, is on his way out of Tennessee. 

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