Titans remind NFL of ‘Vrabel special’
MIAMI – How do you make sense of that game? Is it even possible?
The Tennessee Titans just outgained the NFL’S best offense on a night in which Derrick Henry had 34 rushing yards. These Titans hadn’t won a road game in more than a year and couldn’t score a touchdown in New Orleans, Cleveland or Tampa Bay. But they score two in 51 seconds — including a 2-point conversion — for an astonishing 28-27 victory over one of the league’s best teams?
And in Miami of all places? Where the Dolphins had won 17 of their past 19 games? They had No. 18 all but locked up, too, having been gifted a 27-13 lead in the final minutes by a mistake-prone opponent most would think had no business being in the game that late in the first place.
Even by the NFL’S unpredictable standards, this was all so absurd.
And yet so . . . oddly familiar.
“It felt like the old Titans team,” linebacker Harold Landry said.
You know what he means. The Mike Vrabel era has had such stunning and inexplicable highs before. There’s even a term for it. It’s just that the “Vrabel special” had become outdated in 2023. The new Titans had ceased resembling the “old Titans,” who had earned a reputation for playing their best when doubted the most — and usually on the biggest stages.
Stages like “Monday Night Football” in Miami against the trendy Dolphins of the in-season “Hard Knocks” series.
“I’m excited to watch that HBO episode,” Titans quarterback Will Levis chirped afterward.
Oh, this game was something. It was about so much. It was about Levis, a rookie, outplaying Tua Tagovailoa in crunch time. It was about Deandre Hopkins and Tyjae Spears ultimately stealing the show from the Dolphins’ arsenal of speedy receivers and running backs.
And it was about the fact that of Levis, Spears and Hopkins, none was on
the Titans last season.
Which brings us back to Vrabel.
This was about him the most.
Just ask Dolphins star receiver Tyreek Hill.
“Coach Vrabel, he’s been doing it for a while now,” Hill said. “So he kind of understands how to stop or slow or even contain us.”
League-wide, the respect for the Titans’ coach hasn’t changed. It continues to be reflected in statements from players like Hill.
But this has been a difficult season for Vrabel. The last one was, too. A disappointing downturn in the NFL is going to create questions about any coach.
Vrabel’s seat doesn’t appear to be scorching yet, but you’ve still had to wonder as losses mounted. Was there fire to any of the smoke? Would the Titans ever trade him? Would he even want to stay? And if so, what would it take for the Titans to just opt to move on?
A single victory won’t silence it. But if ever there was a well-timed reminder as
to why Vrabel should remain the Titans’ coach, it was this game.
It’s not necessarily the magic at the end. It’s more that the Titans were in a position to have that happen against a foe that had dropped 70, 45 and 42 points this season.
This could have been ugly. Instead, the Titans stayed motivated and kept fighting with little to play for other than pride and a desire to avoid embarrassment with the entire league watching.
Wasn’t flawless. Never is for these Titans. They made some of the same maddening mistakes they’ve been making all season. They couldn’t run the ball, which is something they always want to do, and they had a rookie quarterback out there slinging it to a defensive lineman for a pick-six in the game’s early stages.
I repeat: This could have been ugly. But it wasn’t. The Titans kept swinging. Without their best defensive player in Jeffery Simmons. Without their top cornerback, Kristian Fulton.
“There’s a lot of guys out there that people aren’t real familiar with,” Vrabel said. “That’s the facts of it. But they’ll fight. They’ll compete, and that’s why I love them . . . . I think it just says a lot about this football team and our growth.”
This isn’t a new theme. The “old Titans” won a lot despite never being rated among the league’s most talented teams. But that talent level has regressed the past two seasons to a point that the same success was no longer sustainable.
Vrabel has been coaching the Titans through an inevitable transition into a new era that’s looking like it’ll be headlined by players like Levis and Spears.
For the newer Titans, Monday night’s win will be an important building block.
“I think it’s huge just for the mindset of the team,” said tight end Chig Okonkwo, another part of that younger generation, “just letting us see what we’re capable of.”
Only one active member of the Titans didn’t play Monday night, yet he might have been the player who dug it the most.
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill spent six seasons as the Dolphins’ starter, ending his 20s here before they traded him to the Titans. Five seasons later, his long-delayed return to Miami wasn’t a storyline, because he’s now Levis’ backup.
Nonetheless . . .
“It was fun to watch,” Tannehill said. “It was good to have that energy back,” echoed Henry.
There are so many moving pieces with the Titans as one era turns to another. Tannehill and Henry are on expiring deals and high on the list of possible departures who have meant so much to this franchise. The Titans’ future looms very different, but that future has already started.
Monday night, though, was a reminder that not everything has changed for the Titans.
And that their coach shouldn’t change, either.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_estes.