By MIKE HERNDON, columnist
With the Titans officially eliminated from playoff contention thanks to a gouge-your-eyes-out performance in a 19-16 overtime loss to the Texans at Nissan Stadium on Sunday, I figured that our time here would be best spent looking forward to the single biggest task facing Ran Carthon and Mike Vrabel in the upcoming offseason: rebuilding the offensive line.
Before we jump into that discussion, I do want to state my belief that, yes, Mike Vrabel should be back as head coach in 2024 and continue to be a part of rebuilding this roster. I don’t buy the notion that Vrabel – a coach who went 48-27 over his first 75 games as Titans head coach without the luxury of an elite quarterback – suddenly forgot how to coach over the last 13 months.
Sure, things have gotten ugly on a lot of fronts over the 5-16 skid that seems like a decent bet to reach 5-19 by year’s end, but to me, this remains a personnel issue. After all, I spent the better part of this past offseason in this column warning that the offensive line fixes might not be an improvement over last year’s bad unit and noting that there was evidence that the defense might not be as elite as many believed they would be this year.
