It’s been a rough season for the Tennessee Titans and first-year head coach Brian Callahan.
The Titans shocked the football world this past January after firing Mike Vrabel. Despite coming off back-to-back losing seasons, Vrabel was popular among players and fans, having led the Titans to the playoffs three times, including an AFC Championship Game appearance during the 2019 season.
However, Tennessee decided to go in a different direction and brought in Callahan, who was the former offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals.
It has not gone well for Callahan in his first year in Tennessee. The Titans are 3-11 after losing 37-27 to the Bengals. Quarterback Will Levis turned the ball over four times and was benched for Mason Rudolph during the loss. The second-year quarterback will remain as the backup for Sunday’s contest against the Indianapolis Colts.
Because of their record, questions have emerged about whether the team is soft. Callahan shot down that talk in a remarkable way.
Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan rips critics who call team soft
During Wednesday’s press conference, Callahan was asked about the perception of his team being soft. The head coach didn’t hold back.
“I think it’s complete and total bulls***, if you want my honest opinion,” he said. “These guys are tough f***ers, man. They go after it every day. They play hard as hell. At no point have we ever put on tape at any point this season that this is a soft football team. I can’t even wrap my mind around how that would even be a conversation. Just because we don’t win games doesn’t mean we’re soft.”
#Titans HC Brian Callahan went on a full-blown rant after being asked about the idea of his team being soft.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 18, 2024
"I think it's complete and total bull***t. … That means you just don't watch the sh**. … You can shove that right up your a**." pic.twitter.com/DwEnjLUruz
Callahan continued: “These guys play their a**es off, they play hard, they play physical. You can ask any team that plays against us, when they come off the field they know they played us. That makes me relatively angry that would be some presumption. That means you just don’t watch the s***. You don’t do anything about it, you don’t know what you’re talking about, you don’t know what you’re looking at. I’m not going to stand for anybody calling this football team soft, I think that’s bulls***. If there’s opinions out there that feel that way, they don’t know anything about NFL football.”
And Callahan concluded his rant emphatically:
“There’s no possible explanation to say that this team is soft in any way, shape or form — mentally or physically. And the way they go about their work, it’s insulting to me, to them, to everyone that works here. No chance ever in hell would I ever admit that to be the case, neither would anyone in this locker room, so you can kind of shove that right up your a** to be honest.”
The Titans will look to prove their toughness this weekend as 3.5-point road underdogs against the Colts.
Related: Where do the Tennessee Titans land in our latest NFL offense rankings?