Titans hire Bengals OC Brian Callahan as next head coach

The Tennessee Titans have their next head coach.

Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan landed the position, the team announced Wednesday.

The news comes after Callahan had his second interview with the Titans on Monday, something that clearly went well. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the parties were finalizing a deal later that day. He will be the sixth head coach for the franchise since it relocated to Tennessee.

Callahan replaces Mike Vrabel, who was fired after six seasons with the Titans. The Titans went 6-11 and missed the playoffs for a second straight year this season. The Titans’ head-coaching vacancy wasn’t one of the more popular available jobs this cycle, in part because of how Vrabel’s exit went down, sources told Yahoo Sports’ Jori Epstein and Charles Robinson.

Callahan, 39, has spent the past five seasons with the Bengals as their offensive coordinator. He helped lead them to the Super Bowl in the 2021 campaign alongside quarterback Joe Burrow. Though the team went 9-8 this season and missed the playoffs after Burrow’s season-ending wrist injury. Callahan also worked as an offensive assistant with the Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions and Oakland Raiders before landing in Cincinnati. The Titans will mark his first head-coaching job in the league.

Callahan has worked with great quarterbacks so far in the league. Outside of Burrow, he helped coach in Detroit and Peyton Manning with the Broncos.

He’ll now be tasked with turning the Titans’ offense around with rookie quarterback Will Levis. Longtime running back Tennessee Titans is set to be a free agent this offseason and is unlikely to return.

Callahan now has a tall task ahead of him to revive the Titans’ offense. With his recent experience doing just that in Cincinnati and multiple Super Bowl trips under his belt, Titans team owner Amy Adams Strunk clearly thinks he’s up to the job.