The Tennessee Titans’ 0-4 start after Sunday’s 24-18 loss to the Baltimore Ravens is more than just an ugly opening month. It’s the latest reminder that this franchise keeps cycling through new faces without ever settling into real stability.
That’s where the last 10 Super Bowl champions make the Titans’ situation look even worse. From the 2016 through 2025 seasons, every champion had either a head coach or a general manager who was in at least his seventh season with the team when the title was won.
The median champion GM was in year 9. The median head coach was in year 6.
The bigger point is even sharper: nine of those 10 champions had a head coach or top personnel executive in at least his seventh season in the role. The lone exception, the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles, were still built by Howie Roseman, who joined the organization in 2000 and became GM in 2010.
That doesn’t mean simply keeping people around automatically leads to a championship. It does show that the teams reaching the top had someone in charge who understood the organization and had time to shape the roster.
The Eagles, Buccaneers and Seahawks all won with second-year head coaches, but each did it with a personnel boss who had been in place for years. The Titans, by contrast, now have a first-year coach and a second-year GM.
Draft position doesn’t explain the pattern either. None of those 10 Super Bowl titles was won by a starting quarterback taken in the top five.
There are two caveats: Carson Wentz, the Eagles’ No. 2 overall pick in 2016, started until he got hurt, and Nick Foles stepped in and won the Super Bowl in 2017. The Rams also used the No. 1 pick in 2016 on Jared Goff before sending him and draft picks to Detroit for Matthew Stafford.
The lesson is simple enough. High picks and cap space create options. What matters is whether a team can draft, develop and keep the right players.
The Titans have already lived through one version of that formula. With Jon Robinson as GM, they went 62-42 from 2016 through 2021, including the playoffs, rattled off six straight winning seasons and made four playoff trips.
Amy Adams Strunk deserves credit for hiring Robinson and Mike Vrabel. That same stretch also helps explain why their exits deserved a closer look.
Robinson’s run was not spotless. The first-round picks in 2020, 2021 and 2022 - Isaiah Wilson, Caleb Farley and Treylon Burks - never became the kind of long-term answers the Titans needed.
Trading A.J. Brown and using the first-round pick they got back on Burks only made matters worse.
Brown went on to win a Super Bowl with the Eagles.
Those are real mistakes, and they are fair to question. But one rough season does not automatically mean a general manager has run out of ideas. Robinson was in his seventh season when Strunk fired him in December 2022.
Vrabel’s dismissal is tougher to justify. He had lost 18 of his final 24 games, and Strunk said the team would benefit from a "fresh approach and perspective."
Those struggles mattered. So did the winning seasons, the AFC Championship Game appearance, and the fact that he had already shown he could coach a contender.
Then Vrabel went 14-3 and took the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl in his first season. That doesn’t prove what he would have done with the Titans’ roster, but it does leave fans with plenty of reason to wonder whether Strunk let the wrong coach go.
What came next only deepened the problem. The Titans followed Vrabel’s exit with back-to-back 3-14 seasons and then moved on from both Ran Carthon and Brian Callahan. Those decisions, too, sit with ownership.
Now the burden falls on Robert Saleh and Mike Borgonzi. Saleh is in Year 1.
Borgonzi is in Year 2. They need time to build this the right way, but they also need results: better drafts, young players who improve, and fewer holes created by letting good players leave.
An 0-4 start will test patience fast. Strunk has to evaluate this group without turning every setback into another reset. The Titans have already spent too many seasons doing that.
In Other News...
Titans Face A Tough Veteran Decision To Help Cam Ward
The Titans slow start has them looking hard at the roster, and that naturally pulls veteran names into the conversation as the NFL trade deadline approaches. One possibility being floated would send Browns receiver Jerry Jeudy to Tennessee in a deal centered on running back Tony Pollard, a kind of veteran-for-veteran move that would be aimed at shaking up a team still trying to find traction around rookie quarterback Cam Ward.
Clevelands 3-1 record gives the Browns a little more flexibility to weigh their own needs, while Tennessee is in a spot where almost any credible help on offense will get attention. Nothing has been finalized, and no trade has been announced, but the speculation alone says plenty about where the Titans are right now: searching for answers, open to changes, and trying to decide whether a move like this is the right one to support Wards development. [Read more 🡒]
Titans Suddenly Have A Tony Pollard Decision Fans Wont Ignore
The Seahawks running back room has been hit hard enough that a familiar name, Joe Mixon, briefly entered the conversation before his physical ended that possibility. Mixon last played for the Texans in 2024 and sat out the 2025 season with a foot and ankle injury, leaving Seattle still searching for help at a position where injuries and the physically unable to perform list have thinned the depth chart.
That kind of need naturally turns attention toward the trade market, and Tony Pollard becomes a name worth watching from Tennessees side of the ledger. He is in the final year of his contract, and with the Titans mired in a rough season, any player with value can at least spark speculation about whether the front office would listen if a contender came calling for backfield help. [Read more 🡒]
Titans 0-4 Start Is Already Separating Core Pieces From Disappointments
The Titans 0-4 start has already done what early-season records often do: it has started separating the encouraging pieces from the letdowns. On one side, rookie linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. has quickly become a defensive bright spot, sitting third in the league in total tackles, while rookie receiver Carnell Tate has given the offense a legitimate building block by leading the team in receptions and receiving yards.
Elsewhere, the picture is much murkier. Backup running back Tyjae Spears has not been able to stay healthy or make much of an impact, quarterback Cam Ward has fallen short of expectations, and the early returns on the offense have been uneven enough to keep the focus on what still has to be fixed. One notable exception has been JC Latham, whose leap has stood out, with no sacks or quarterback hits allowed so far. [Read more 🡒]