Despite an 0-1 start to Brian Callahan's tenure as head coach of the Tennessee Titans, Music City's new leader is in the perfect head space to take the Titans to the next level.
Drawing from his experiences as the offensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals, Callahan and his coaching staff are keeping an open mind when it comes to the Titans' identity. The first-year head coach wants to lean on the staff around him and adapt to what his roster does well.
That's not something Titans fans are used to getting from their head coach. And it's not something that always happens around the league. Too often we see coaching staffs stuck in one way of thinking and committed to the perfect idea of what their team can be rather than reacting to what their team actually is.
But for a Titans team that has started 0-1 with new faces on the roster, a young quarterback, and a fanbase with big expectations....Callahan's humility goes a long way. He's not afraid to change his philosophy to fit his personnel.
Learning from Cincinnati
"In Cincinnati, the things that helped us the most is that, one, we had a really good staff and I think we have one here, where you are constantly, in the first part of the season, evaluating what it is that you do well," Callahan said when asked how to recover from a slow start to the regular season. "Once you kind of find what that identity is of your team, you lean into it. That is an ongoing process over the whole year, but usually in these first couple of weeks you find out a lot of things. I think that you rely on people's thoughts and ideas and viewpoints on their positions, on their units; offense, defense and special teams."
"You just have to be willing to be flexible and adaptable and not afraid to say what we thought we were going to be isn't true, and we need to do something different. That's what we did in Cincinnati, especially when we first got there," Callahan continued. "There's an evolution that takes place in the first part of the season, and you have to be willing to know when to pivot and to adapt."
Titans offensive coordinator Nick Holz elaborated on that idea later in the week, telling me that Tennessee's staff "doesn't want to be stuck in a box of 'this is just what we do.'" Holz called that mentality "archaic coaching," and I wouldn't disagree.
Titans players are already appreciating the difference between Callahan's coaching style from what they have experienced at other points of their career. I spoke to veteran quarterback Mason Rudolph about that idea in the locker room this week.
Rudolph told me that he has not always had the luxury of being paired with a coach that is adaptable. But with Callahan his feedback is taken seriously and accounted for in game plans.
"I think that's the sign of a good leader. Somebody who puts their ego aside and says 'what's best for this unit? Let's play to their strengths,'" Rudolph said. "I've been around coaches who...that's not their philosophy. Cally is 40. He relates well to us."
Teaching technique
Veteran offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill added an even deep layer to this idea when I spoke with him this week. Brunskill explained how the flexibility of this Titans' staff goes as far as the techniques they teach.
When it comes to the men up front, Tennessee's coaching staff has been trying to find the best technique for each to player to accomplish a particular play. Those are always changing depending on a player's skillset or the defender opposing them on any given Sunday
"It's really nice to have those types of coaches that are not stuck in a way and forcing a guy to do something that he's not good at. They're really trying to make sure that each guy is comfortable with what they're doing," Brunskill told me. "If they're not okay...what technique works for you to accomplish the play and the scheme that we're trying to run?"
You get the gist...This staff is flexible. This staff wants players to be themselves both on and off the field. This staff has been checking ego at the door and is not afraid to switch things up.
The 0-1 start and poor offensive effort in Chicago is disappointing, but this is the perfect approach to turning things around. It should give Titans fans a lot of confidence.
Drawing the line
Of course...the natural follow up question is 'where do we draw the line?' When does something go from a fixable mistake that wasn't executed well to something that the Titans need to eliminate from their game plans and identity altogether.
I asked Brian Callahan that very question on Friday afternoon. Tennessee's head coach told me that right now, he feels like most of the Titans problems are correctable. He is not hitting the panic button after one poor performance. But if Tennessee struggles to do something two, three, or four times..."You need to listen" and adapt, he said.
Watching Callahan navigate the ups and downs of this season will be fascinating. I believe that, with time, the Titans will settle into an identity and find more consistent production from all three phases of the game. It may not happen immediately, but Tennessee gets a bit of a grace period for me thanks to this staff's refreshing flexibility. That starts with Brian Callahan.
