The Houston Oilers were a charter member of the American Football League as they won the first two AFL Championships, but since then they’ve never been able to reach that same level of success. After going a combined 2-26 in 1972 and 1973, the Oilers began to turn things around which culminated in consecutive trips to the AFC Championship Game in 1978 and 1979. But the impatience of longtime Oilers owner Bud Adams led to the team firing Bum Phillips as their head coach in 1980. The Oilers would not have another winning season until 1987 which would set off a string of seven consecutive playoff appearances. But just like Adams had done in 1980, he dismantled his team due to playoff failures. Phillips would then move the Oilers to Nashville, Tennessee in 1997 and in 1999, they would be renamed as the Titans.
At first the Titans would have success in Nashville as they made their first and only Super Bowl appearance in franchise history in January 2000. But when Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson was stopped one yard short of the goal line to end Super Bowl 34, it was just another chapter of disappointment for this franchise in the National Football League. Since losing the Super Bowl, the Titans have made five playoff appearances, but their last came in 2008, and things are just going from bad to worse.
Ken Whisenhunt
In 2014, the Titans hired Ken Whisenhunt to be their head coach. Whisenhunt came to Nashville with the notion to rebuild the franchise as he had a ton of work in front of him. Last season saw the Titans go 2-14 as Whisenhunt spent his first year in Nashville finding the guys that would best fit his system. The Titans putrid record would see them enter the 2015 National Football League Draft with the second overall pick which they used on quarterback Marcus Mariota. Mariota opened the season as the Titans starting quarterback and he helped the team win their first game of the season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But since then Mariota has had to deal with the growing pains of a rookie quarterback in the NFL along with taking a beating in the pocket. Mariota suffered a knee injury during the Titans Week 6 loss to the Miami Dolphins that has kept him out of action ever since. But more importantly the Titans have not won a game since Week 1 which resulted in Whisenhunt being fired this week.
In his time with the Titans, Whisenhunt has only compiled a record of 3-20 which is nothing to write home about, but there’s only so much that could have been improved on during his there; especially when the team’s hopes are attached to a rookie quarterback in Mariota.
Adams passed away in 2013, but his family still has control of the Titans which is led by Amy Adams Strunk. Strunk is Adams’ daughter and she is now the controlling owner of the Titans, and just like her father, there was a lack of patience behind Whisenhunt. Whisenhunt has now been replaced with the Titans by Mike Mularkey who is the team’s assistant head coach/tight ends coach. But if the Titans decide to go outside of their organization as far as finding a head coach in 2016, they could be setting themselves up for more failure.
It’s not exactly set in stone that a new head coach for the Titans would be willing to commit to Mariota which means that this team could be starting over once again with the two most important positions on a football team. The Titans are now on their third head coach since Jeff Fisher was fired in 2010 and their ninth different starting quarterback since Steve McNair was released by the team in 2005 which is a good reason why this organization is now at the bottom of the National Football League. More than ever the Titans need stability which they are currently lacking. And if the Titans intend to go outside of their organization to hire their next coach, it will be a tough hire due to the fact that there must be patience brought forth from their front office.
The Titans record this season is not good, but they have been more competitive as they lost three contests by three points or less which means that they very were close to turning the corner under Whisenhunt; at least as far as showing some improvement. But like the old adage goes, you can’t fire the players which means that the coach is the one who will bite the dust. And for the fans of the Titans, they’ll have to get accustomed to once again saying a term that they are too familiar with which is “starting over”.
Leave A Comment