Tennessee Titans fire coach Mike Vrabel after back-to-back losing seasons

Updated Jan. 9, 2024 1:01 p.m. ET

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have fired coach Mike Vrabel after six seasons with the franchise having won only six of the past 24 games, including blowing a third straight AFC South title in the 2022 season finale.

Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a statement that she told Vrabel of her decision Tuesday morning. She said it was a decision “as difficult as any I’ve made.”

The announcement came a day after the Titans cleaned out their lockers with Vrabel not speaking to reporters. It was the first time in the franchise's 27 seasons in Tennessee the head coach did not talk to reporters since the team moved to the state from Texas.

Vrabel was hired in January 2018 and went 56-48 including playoffs. He said last week that “of course he wants to be here” in 2024, but used an expletive to make clear that losing stinks.

Strunk fired general manager Jon Robinson on Dec. 6, 2022, in the midst of the team's seven-game slide to blow a third straight division title. She hired Ran Carthon in January 2023 as the franchise's first Black general manager, though he had few resources to fix the roster.

Vrabel wound up coaching a team that used the most players in the NFL in each of the past three seasons because of injuries.

The Titans wrapped up Vrabel’s sixth season with a 6-11 record in his first year with Carthon. They beat Jacksonville 28-20 on Sunday to deny their oldest division rival a second straight AFC South title. That was the first time in Vrabel's tenure that the Titans weren’t playing for a postseason berth in the finale.

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