The Tennessee Titans are off to a poor start to the 2025 NFL season. It’s not just that they are 0-3, but they’ve looked pretty awful in achieving that record.
On Sunday, the Titans dropped a 21-point heartbreaker to the Indianapolis Colts 41-20 at home in Nashville. And, it wasn’t just that they got pasted, but Colts‘ wide receiver Michael Pittman said it was actually worse than that.
“Saw it on the pre-game intros,” Pittman said after the game. “They kinda looked a little sluggish, they were kinda walking around, nobody was really bouncing. Right then and there we all sat there and were like ‘They don’t want to play today.’”
Wow, that’s pretty damning especially since the two teams play again on October 26th in Indianapolis. Pittman probably wouldn’t be offering up bulletin-board material if it wasn’t true.
Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan disagrees with Pittman
Considering the Colts scored on a pick six with 14:11 left in the first quarter, it would appear that Pittman was correct. Colts’ cornerback Kenny Moore II intercepted Titans‘ quarterback Cam Ward and took it 32 yards to the house. Not exactly a hot start.
When told of Pittman’s comments, Titans‘ head coach Brian Callahan of course took umbrage.
“When you win a game and you win it the way they did, you can kind of say whatever you want,” Callahan told reporters on Monday. “I think if you watch the way that the team played, that certainly wasn’t the case, by any stretch. We played hard, and we fought in that game. We didn’t play well enough to win it. But it certainly wasn’t — I don’t think that was an accurate depiction.
“But again, when you don’t win, that’s just the way it goes. You can say what you want.”
Brian Callahan is coaching for his job at this point
The Titans have a new general manager in Mike Borgonzi and a new head of football operations in Chad Brinker. It’s important to note that neither of them had anything to do with Callahan’s hiring.
So, obviously Callahan’s leash is a little shorter than if one of the higher ups had brought him in. With many fans calling for the coach’s head, Callahan said he doesn’t think about that (although maybe he should if his team isn’t ready to play).
“I don’t really worry about that to be honest,” Callahan said. “My focus is on trying to make sure our football team is in as good a place as possible, and the rest of that stuff is what it is. I don’t think about those things. You really can’t. I mean this is hard enough as it is to put those other things and think about that doesn’t do anybody any good. I just go to work and work as hard as I can. I put as much effort as I can into this and that is what it is.”
It’s still a little odd that there was plenty of talk of firing Callahan following last season. The Titans won four games and earned the No. 1-overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Since they used that to select Ward, one would think that maybe the organization wanted to clean house and start over with a new coaching staff.
That didn’t happen and right now maybe they are wishing it did.
Colts’ WR Says Titans Didn’t “Want to Play Today”