Titans owner puts end to questions around Mularkey
NASHVILLE – “Is the billionaire going to fire the millionaire?”
It’s a popular game in the NFL these days, because most of these teams aren’t playing football anymore. Just eight remained alive after Sunday’s games, with 24 sitting at home, six head coaching changes so far and several other possibilities speculated.
Somehow, the Tennessee Titans were involved in both games this weekend, football and pin-the-pink-slip-onthe-coach. Now it’s time to ditch the sideshow and gear up for one of the biggest on-field moments in franchise history.
It will be the No. 5 seed Titans at the No. 1 seed New England Patriots — the NFL’s Evil Empire — at 7 p.m. Saturday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
The winner will advance to the Jan. 21 AFC Championship Game for the right to play in Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4 in Minneapolis.
It will be Mike Mularkey coaching the Titans.
On Saturday and beyond. Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk made that clear and stopped the madness with the release of a statement Sunday that said, in part: “I regret that outside rumors gained a life of their own. No one has been a bigger supporter of Mike Mularkey than I have over the last two plus seasons. Mike and (general manager) Jon (Robinson) have changed the culture of our team and organization … Just to eliminate any distractions moving forward, Mike Mularkey is our head coach and will be our head coach moving forward.”
Do with that what you will. Continue to lament Mularkey’s offense and fret that Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is going to be hired as head coach somewhere else and bring that team streams of Super Bowl rings, if you must. It’s reality. It’s done. It’s enough already.
How about that team Mularkey coaches? Have we mentioned yet that it trailed 21-3 Saturday at heavily favored Kansas City, in one of the most imposing environments in the NFL, with reports swirling that Mularkey was coaching for his job, and that it essentially delivered a flawless second half on both sides of the ball to win 22-21 before giving him the game ball?
Have we talked about how it was the Titans’ first playoff victory in 14 years, featuring the second-largest road comeback in NFL playoff history, and a touchdown pass that Marcus Mariota threw to himself after a defender batted it back into his arms, and a whole bunch of other plays from Mariota and running back Derrick Henry that made you think the Titans might just have more wins in them?
This team has had its struggles. But it is playing in the postseason for the first time in nine years. The Titans have advanced past this point only twice, en route to the 2000 Super Bowl and 2002 AFC title game. Since this franchise officially joined the NFL as the Houston Oilers in 1970, it has been past this point a total of four times.
That’s heady stuff. That’s a heck of a season already. And this team is dangerous. It can play pressure-free Saturday against Bill Belichick and Tom Brady and the franchise looking for its second consecutive Super Bowl title and sixth since 2002.
“Anything is possible,” Titans safety Kevin Byard said after contributing to a second-half shutout of the Chiefs.
“There’s belief in this team,” said Ti- tans cornerback Logan Ryan, who won it all with the Patriots last season and will contribute heavily to scouting reports this week.
Chemistry, tenacity and way more winning have marked Mularkey’s two seasons as full-time head coach. But he was not a popular hire with fans, and he admitted after Saturday’s win that reports that he might have been coaching for his job the past two weeks had affected him.
Asked if he felt safe in his job entering the game, Mularkey said, “No, I haven’t had any support to say that I was. So no, I just assumed the worst.”
Those are biting words. And though Adams Strunk put an end to the speculation Sunday — and Mularkey said in a Sunday teleconference that her gesture was “nice” — this situation bears watching. The better question now is whether Mularkey would think about going on his own.
And that’s a question for later. Now is the Patriots, an opportunity and moment that deserves undivided attention.
“If you want to go where we want to go,” Mularkey said, “these are the kind of games you have to win.”
And this is the only game you want to be playing right now.