It happened. The Tennessee Titans this morning announced Ken Whisenhunt had been removed of his duties as head coach. Controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk made the following statement with the firing, via the team:
“After thoughtful consideration, the decision has been made to relieve Ken Whisenhunt of his head coaching duties. We have expected more progress on the field, and I felt it was time to move in a different direction. I would like to thank Ken for his efforts with our team, as he worked very hard to try to move us forward.”
Even if I didn’t expect anything to happen soon, it’s hard to disagree with anything she said there. I was planning out a midseason “state of the Titans”-type post for after this coming Sunday’s eighth game and the majority of the reasons the Titans were 1-6 instead of on pace for a mark more like the 6-10 like I expected came down to the offense and Whisenhunt’s continuing to put players in position to accommodate his preferred scheme rather than in the best position for them and the team to succeed. Look no farther than the last four games started by Zach Mettenberger, two last year and two this year, where he has as many game-ending injuries (two, not even counting getting banged up on the final play of Sunday’s game in Houston) as touchdown drives (by him). Even if you don’t think Mettenberger is good, and I freely admit I don’t, that’s not maximizing his talent.
Assistant head coach/tight ends coach Mike Mularkey was named as the interim head coach. I wasn’t at all a fan of Mularkey’s work in Jacksonville, but this was the right move to make. He has experience as a head coach before in multiple cities, and with just five days until they play New Orleans they needed a lot of continuity. No news in the release on Jason Michael, so I assume he remains as offensive coordinator while Dick LeBeau and Ray Horton will continue to run the much-improved defense.
Interim team president Steve Underwood and Mularkey have a press conference set for today at 11:30, so I’ll weigh in later today with my reactions to that and what Mularkey and Michael might be able to do to turn this dumpster fire around a little bit. If you want more immediate reactions, follow my Twitter, where I’ll be chiming in as my ability to to do so permits.
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