Titans fire OC Todd Downing, 3 other assistants after losing 7 straight games, missing playoffs

The Tennessee Titans are revamping their coaching staff after a seven-game losing streak to end the season left them out of the playoffs.

The team announced on Monday that it has fired offensive coordinator Todd Downing, offensive line coach Keith Carter, secondary coach Anthony Midget and offensive skill assistant Erik Frazier. The news arrives two days after a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars knocked the Titans out of playoff contention.

Head coach Mike Vrabel alluded to a staff shakeup on Saturday following the loss to the Jaguars that secured the AFC South title for Jacksonville.

"I think you look at it and you evaluate everything that you're doing and who you're doing it with and the staff that you put in place for the players," Vrabel told reporters.

The Titans started hot and looked playoff-bound for a fourth-straight season while posting a 7-3 record through Nov. 17. They didn't win another game. Despite entering Saturday on a six-game losing streak, they still controlled their own playoff outcome in a winner-take-all game against Jacksonville with the division title at stake.

They scored the game's first points with a first-quarter field goal and led the entire way until a strip-sack of quarterback Joshua Dobbs in the fourth quarter led to a decisive defensive touchdown for the Jaguars in Jacksonville's 20-16 win.

Tennessee finished the season scrambling at quarterback after a second injury to Ryan Tannehill's right ankle required surgery and sidelined him for the final three games of the season. But Tennessee's offensive woes took hold before the end of Tannehill's season. The Titans lost the first four games of their season-ending losing streak with Tannehill under center while averaging 15.5 points per game. They continued to struggle to score with Malik Willis and Dobbs at quarterback.

For the season, the Titans ranked 30th in the NFL with 296.8 yards per game and 28th with a 17.5-point scoring average. This was in spite of fielding a dominant running back in Derrick Henry, who tallied 1,936 yards and 13 touchdowns from scrimmage.

The Titans will also be searching for a new general manager after the late-season dismissal of Jon Robinson. The Titans fired Robinson on Dec. 6, a day after receiver A.J. Brown tallied 119 yards and two touchdowns against the Tennessee in a 35-10 Philadelphia Eagles win.

The Titans traded Brown to Philadelphia last offseason and failed in 2022 to produce a 600-yard receiver. Brown, meanwhile, broke Philadelphia's single-season record with 1,496 receiving yards for a first-place Eagles team.