Why Vrabel reached out to fired Titans coach who replaced him

New England Patriots

“We’re not trying to win one for the Gipper here.”

The Titans’ decision to fire Mike Vrabel as head coach in January 2024 hasn’t panned out all that well.

After parting ways with Vrabel — who coached Tennessee to the AFC Championship Game in 2019 — the Titans replaced him with Brian Callahan. 

Callahan did little to reverse the Titans’ fortunes in the post-Vrabel era, going 4-19 before the team eventually fired him ahead of Vrabel and the Patriots’ arrival in Nashville this weekend. 

While Vrabel could hold icy sentiment toward the coach who replaced him in Tennessee, the Patriots head coach said one of his first orders of business this week was to reach out to Callahan — who is in a similar position to what Vrabel went through just a few years ago. 

“I don’t want to see anyone who shares a job with you to get let go,” Vrabel said on Wednesday. “That’s a tough feeling with family and school, whether it’s college or pro. There’s a human element to this that I don’t want to forget. 

“I remember all of those coaches and people who reached out to me after I was let go. I think that’s important. Nobody texts when you lose, but they all text when you win. That’s a good reminder.”

Beyond the discourse regarding Callahan’s firing and potential lift that the Titans could receive under interim head coach Mike McCoy, the main narrative entering Week 7 is Vrabel’s chance to exact revenge against his former team. 

But Vrabel downplayed any talk of the Patriots holding any added motivation to beat Tennessee in support of their coach. 

“We’re not trying to win one for the Gipper here,” Vrabel said. “We’re just trying to make sure these guys are focused on improving. I think they’re locked in. Hopefully we can get them to prepare the best we possibly can between now and Sunday.”

Drake Maye acknowledged that Vrabel isn’t treating his return to Tennessee as a “big deal” in his meetings with the players this week — with the Patriots head coach instead reinforcing that New England shouldn’t get too carried away and overlook the Titans after winning three consecutive games. 

“Ignore some of the noise,” Maye said Wednesday. “Ignore some of the noise of him going back to a place he coached at, of us having some success, and getting put on a hype train with the success we’ve had. It’s time for us to keep proving it week in and week out. That’s been our main focus.

“Keep going, ignore the noise, and know that if we keep playing like this, we’ll have a real shot when it’s time for the playoffs to come. But that’s a long ways away.”

 

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.