Titans coach Brian Callahan resists regression tag, says 'there's an excitement trying to clime out of' 0-4 start
The Titans look broken down through four winless games to begin the 2025 season and in a state of perpetual regression.
Howerever, second-year coach Brian Callahan, who is 3-18 since taking over for Mike Vrabel before last season, has a different breakdown of his team through four weeks. And he chooses not to include the word "regression."
"I think all the games have been different for varying reasons," Callahan said Sept. 29, a day after the Titans lost 26-0 on the road to the Houston Texans, who also were winless going into the game. "I think regression ... is tough to nail ... when you've lost them all.
"We've done some really good things in all of the games that we played. We've just got to find a way to do those things for the entirety of the game, and then make plays that help us win the game in the fourth quarter, which is where all these games have gotten away from us in some way, shape or form."
What kinds of plays have cost the Titans in fourth quarters?
Callahan pointed to turnovers, missed tackles and big runs as the culprits, though scoring zero points against the Texans hardly backed up that theory and have helped put him on the coaching hotseat.
But the Titans have made other coaching blunders earlier in games, such as in Week 1 at Denver with a misinterpreted call on what looked to be a catch and in Week 3 against the Colts when the Titans struggled to decide to go for it on fourth down despite back-to-back timeouts and took a delay of game.
Have the Titans regressed in four games?
The Titans 26-0 loss to the Texans marked the first time the team had been shut out for the first time since 2019 and just the seventh time ever. It came against the Houston Texans, who hadn't won a game prior to beating the Titans.
The Titans have played without right tackle JC Latham since Week 1. And left tackle Dan Moore Jr. woke up with an illness on game day in Houston, but managed to play.
Does Brian Callahan feel hopeless about this season?
Callahan said on Sept. 29 that he doesn't feel "hopeless" about the situation.
"I don't sense that from anybody that works in our building," he said. "I don't sense that from our players. Look, we're in a rough stretch. We're 0-4, and that doesn't feel good. No one's excited about that, but I do feel their willingness.
"There's an excitement about trying to climb out of it, too. There's something about that that's real. Competitors relish that challenge, and I think we got a bunch of competitors on our team and our coaching staff and in our building that are going to fight like crazy to turn this thing."
Are the Titans the worst 0-4 team in NFL history?
A case can be made, according to a story done by Titans beat writer Nick Suss, who broke down that question in this story. In it, he found the following:
The Titans have been outscored 120-51, outgained 1,474 yards to 842, and outgained 5.94 yards per play to 3.66.
On third and fourth downs, the Titans' offense has a 28.8% conversion rate, and the defense is allowing a 43.1% conversion rate. The offense has advanced into the red zone seven times, while the defense has been backed up in its own red zone 15 times.
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Brian Callahan resists regression tag to 2025 Tennessee Titans
Category: Football
