Titans owner has heard enough Mularkey
First playoff win in 14 years was not enough for coach to keep his job in Tennessee
NASHVILLE— The Tennessee Titans and Mike Mularkey couldn’t agree on how to build on the team’s first playoff berth since 2008 and become a true NFL contender. That job will now fall to a new coach.
The Titans split with Mularkey on Monday after he revived a team with the NFL’s worst record over two seasons and led them to their first playoff victory in 14 years. The Titans announced the move two days after a 35-14 loss against New England in the AFC divisional round.
“It became evident that we saw different paths to achieve greater success,” controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said.
Mularkey had one year left on his contract and refused to discuss his status Sunday. But he said he had talked with Strunk and was ready to move “full speed” ahead. Mularkey also defended offensive co-ordinator Terry Robiskie’s play-calling with quarterback Marcus Mariota and said his coaching staff would be back as well.
Strunk said in a statement Monday she talked with Mularkey about extending his contract over the past week since a 22-21 comeback win against Kansas City in the wild-card round. Mularkey is the first coach let go after winning a playoff game since San Francisco fired Steve Mariucci after the 2002 season.
“It is certainly unfortunate that we couldn’t find enough common ground,” she said. “I generally believe that continuity is the best path for success, but I also view this as an important moment for our football team as we try to make that next step to sustained success on the field.”
General manager Jon Robinson will oversee his first coaching search with the Titans. He was hired two days before Mularkey had the interim title removed in January 2016. The Titans are the seventh NFL team to change coaches since the start of the season.
Strunk turned to Mularkey in November 2015 when she fired Ken Whisenhunt after 23 games. Mularkey went 2-7 down the stretch as the Titans finished 3-13 to land the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2016. That capped a 5-27 record over 2014 and 2015 that was the worst in the NFL.
Mularkey led the Titans to back-toback 9-7 records — their first consecutive winning records since 2007-08. He finished with a 21-22 record after a season in which the Titans cost themselves the AFC South title with a three-game skid in December.
That left Tennessee needing to beat the Jaguars, now in the AFC championship game, in the regular-season finale to reach the post-season for the first time since 2008. Missing out on the AFC South title was enough for fans who hadn’t been happy since Mularkey had the interim tag taken off his title in January 2016 after a short coaching search.
In Mularkey’s first full season, the Titans led the NFL scoring touchdowns inside the red zone, and they led the AFC while ranking third in rushing offence. Mariota also threw 26 touchdowns with only nine interceptions.
But in Mularkey’s second full season, the Titans failed to take advantage of an AFC South in which quarterback Andrew Luck missed the season for Indianapolis and twotime defending division champ Houston lost rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson early to an injury.
Mariota also had his worst season yet with a career-worst 15 interceptions and 13 touchdowns. The run game, the basis of Mularkey’s offence, slumped to 15th in the NFL. Mularkey frequently defended his offence, which he ran as an offensive co-ordinator in Pittsburgh between 2001 and 2003 and had been successful over the years.
Mularkey talked about the speculation over his job security after the Titans turned in one of the NFL’s biggest playoff comebacks by a road team in beating the Chiefs. But their playoff run ended in a rout in New England.