Vrabel guides Titans from 2-4 to a win from Super Bowl
HOUSTON — Mike Vrabel is the big fish that got away.
After spending four seasons on Bill O’brien’s staff as linebackers coach and defensive coordinator, Vrabel is on the verge of making playoff history in his second season as Tennessee’s head coach.
If the Titans upset Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium — something the Texans failed to do — it will be the third time in history a sixth seed beat the top three seeds to reach a Super Bowl.
The 2005 Steelers and the 2010 Packers began the playoffs as the lowest seeds in their conferences and won three games before also winning Super Bowls.
Think about it: The Titans were 8-7 and needed to win at NRG Stadium to earn the last wild-card berth in the AFC. Because the game meant nothing to the Texans, O’brien chose to rest some of his best players, and Tennessee won 35-14.
With Vrabel leading the way, the Titans pulled off stunning upsets in the wild card and divisional rounds, winning 20-13 at New England and 28-12 at Baltimore.
And now Vrabel is on the verge of guiding the Oilers/titans to their second Super Bowl since they left Houston for Nashville.
In his first season, the Titans were 9-6 and needed to defeat Indianapolis at Nissan Stadium to make the playoffs. They lost.
This season, they were in the same situation. Maybe Vrabel would have led the Titans to a victory over the Texans if O’brien had played all of his starters in the last game of regular season, but we’ll never know. Still, it doesn’t hurt to dream, right?
It’s interesting to look back on Vrabel’s second season and the Titans’ 2-4 start. Quarterback Marcus Mariota was struggling in the fifth and final year of his contract. His backup, Ryan Tannehill,
had been acquired in the offseason from Miami by general manager Jon Robinson.
Vrabel faced a difficult decision that good coaches sometimes have to make — to bench his starting quarterback who was supposed to be The Franchise but had failed to live up to that high expectation.
After Tannehill was elevated, the Titans went 7-3 and averaged 32.4 points a game.
In the first nine games, 6-3, 247-pound running back Derrick Henry reached 100 yards one time. In his last seven games, including the playoff victories, he’s reached 100 yards six times and averaged 151.7 yards. In the two playoff games, he’s averaged 188.5. He sat out one game to nurse a sore hamstring.
Tannehill has been an amazing success story. He supported Mariota for the first six games, then capitalized on his opportunity when Vrabel promoted him.
Like Henry, Tannehill is in the last year of his contract. He led the NFL in completion percentage (70.3), yards per attempt (9.59) and rating (117.5). He hasn’t thrown for 100 yards in either playoff game because he hasn’t needed to. Why would he with Henry plowing through the Patriots and Ravens for 182 and 195 yards?
Vrabel’s style of offense, led by holdover coordinator Arthur Smith, is setting back analytics 10 years. A power running game behind a workhorse back, an offense that controls the ball and capitalizes on play-action with a mobile, accurate quarterback.
The players want to win for Vrabel. He’s tough and demanding, an imposing presence at 6-4, 260. But they like and respect him. They’ll run through an Arrowhead Stadium wall if he asks them to. He holds them accountable, and he holds himself accountable, too.
“I try to be honest, direct, clear, concise, and I think there’s a lot of trust that goes into it before you can hold somebody accountable,” he said. “They have to trust I know what I’m talking about, that I’m putting the team first in every decision I make.”
Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls as an outside linebacker with the Patriots, has a defense that’s smart and physical and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. The defense has been outstanding in the playoffs, limiting Tom Brady to 13 points and Lamar Jackson to 12.
On Sunday, the Titans go for the hat trick against Patrick Mahomes. That’s a Murderer’s Row of quarterbacks. What an achievement it would be for Vrabel to mow them down and reach the Super Bowl two years after leaving the Texans.