Is the perception around the league that AAS and JRob went back on their word?

[Former_Fan]

I think those comments were to keep some stability with our upcoming playoff game. Definitely didn't need any further distractions. That being said, the process had likely already begun after out 3 game losing street, and Mularkeys awkward press conference was definitely the icing on the cake. Actually, when I heard the press conference I knew there was no way what he said was going to fly with JRob.

[freakingeek]

8 hours ago, Denali said:

Just wondering if the perception around the league is that AAS and JRob pulled the rug out from under Mularkey. 

 

If so, that would make it difficult to find a replacement.

I don't think so. Mularkey has pulled this stunt before in Buffalo. Today's Tennessean had JRob saying MM's borderline arrogance (my words) in his end of season presser played a big part in the decision to move on from him. 

[tgo]

6 hours ago, OILERMAN said:

She said he was the coach moving forward. It offered no safety at all and was almost an alert that he could/would be fired. 

Yes, but per reports, Underwood and Robinson walked into Mularkey's office and told him that they were going to extend him and that they'd get it done after the game vs the Patriots. 

 

Then they fired him the next morning. 

Edited January 16, 2018 by tgo

[tgo]

I'm not sure what the national perception is, but they did go back on their word. Absolutely, no question about it. 

 

However, was that the best thing for the Titans? Apparently they certainly felt that it was, so they did what they had to. 

 

Regardless, it has no bearing on finding a replacement. But it does speak to a degree of poor management, which has been the case with this franchise for decades. 

[Tex in a Can]

What I'm gonna say is pure conjecture on my part, but Mularkey's press conference to me was a good bye. He knew he was being canned and wanted to give a shout out to his coaches and the team. He wanted to show us he is proud of the work he did here. He was being fired and he wanted to say up yours to his bosses. Anything else makes him to be a total idiot to do the press conference that way when the decision was being made and extension discussions were being discussed. Jrob saying it was a factor could well have just been being pissed off at Mularkey.

Edited January 16, 2018 by Tex in a Can

[freakingeek]

26 minutes ago, SB35 said:

This is an interesting take that I haven't seen brought up. I don't want to believe that these decisions are now crowdsourced (who knows what the UT hiring debacle set off in sports going forward), but that surely plays some part. Don't discount the fact that the Titans had the Predators recent Stanley Cup run to compare this to. The city went absolutely nuts over that playoff run. I'm guessing the Titans expected a similar response from Nashville for the Titans. Granted, there were no home playoff games, but there certainly wasn't the same excitement for the Titans' run as with the Preds.  

I was excited at the beginning of the year. Things seemed to be falling in place for a relatively easy run to the AFC South. Easy schedule, injuries within the division, high hopes for Mariota to continue trending up. As the season progressed it became apparent early on that there was trouble in paradise. Home loss to Oakland, blowout loss to Houston, blowout loss to Pittsburgh in primetime, struggling to run the ball against the league's worst run defenses, the regression of Mariota. The team would give a glimmer of hope only to be dashed the following week. Despite some good wins, I perceived us to be underperforming most of the season. It was frustrating as a fan and squelched my enthusiasm. Meanwhile words from the head coach didn't make me feel any better. After disappointing losses, all I heard was, we didn't get the job done and we have to do better next week.

 

That narrative continued long enough for me to believe that IF we made the playoffs we wouldn't last more than a game or two. I saw nothing being done to get the ship turned around. There were some good wins but two steps forward and one step back was our MO. Maybe if Mularkey hadn't overachieved last year the bar wouldn't have been set so high. The most alarming thing to me was Mariota's struggles. All of that being said, making the playoffs was almost a surprise instead of a foregone conclusion. It was hard to get excited about it because I thought we would be an easy out. Even the KC win was a microcosm of the entire season. One terrible half and one exciting half. That's not a sustainable product. 

[freakingeek]

16 minutes ago, tgo said:

I'm not sure what the national perception is, but they did go back on their word. Absolutely, no question about it. 

 

However, was that the best thing for the Titans? Apparently they certainly felt that it was, so they did what they had to. 

 

Regardless, it has no bearing on finding a replacement. But it does speak to a degree of poor management, which has been the case with this franchise for decades. 

I think the intent was there to keep him but in discussions, Mularkey's refusal to admit there were things that needed to be changed sealed his fate. It would have been toxic for all involved to go into 2018 with that cesspool bubbling. I admire Mularkey for supporting his assistants but he went down with the ship.

[SB35]

8 minutes ago, freakingeek said:

I was excited at the beginning of the year. Things seemed to be falling in place for a relatively easy run to the AFC South. Easy schedule, injuries within the division, high hopes for Mariota to continue trending up. As the season progressed it became apparent early on that there was trouble in paradise. Home loss to Oakland, blowout loss to Houston, blowout loss to Pittsburgh in primetime, struggling to run the ball against the league's worst run defenses, the regression of Mariota. The team would give a glimmer of hope only to be dashed the following week. Despite some good wins, I perceived us to be underperforming most of the season. It was frustrating as a fan and squelched my enthusiasm. Meanwhile words from the head coach didn't make me feel any better. After disappointing losses, all I heard was, we didn't get the job done and we have to do better next week.

 

That narrative continued long enough for me to believe that IF we made the playoffs we wouldn't last more than a game or two. I saw nothing being done to get the ship turned around. There were some good wins but two steps forward and one step back was our MO. Maybe if Mularkey hadn't overachieved last year the bar wouldn't have been set so high. The most alarming thing to me was Mariota's struggles. All of that being said, making the playoffs was almost a surprise instead of a foregone conclusion. It was hard to get excited about it because I thought we would be an easy out. Even the KC win was a microcosm of the entire season. One terrible half and one exciting half. That's not a sustainable product. 

Spot. On. 

 

I’ve felt a little guilty all season for not embracing “an ugly win is a win.” It has everything to do with my dashed sky-high expectations for what this team could do this season. Made all the more depressing by the realization that the conference was down overall. This SHOULD have been a big year, but it was clear pretty early on that changes weren’t coming. This mediocre team was what it was. Definitely sucked the air out of the room for local Titans fans.

[IsntLifeFunny]

7 hours ago, Jamalisms said:

Well, yeah, I imagine that's something people are aware of. It's pretty accurate.

Funny enough I was talking with my brother about this last night. You as a northerner wouldn’t understand it, because it doesn’t really make sense. Essentially what happened was a cultural norm in the south. You don’t talk shit to a person’s face like you would in Wisconsin. You talk behind their back down here. You don’t fire a guy in that situation, you offer him something he has to refuse. The fact the extension talks were brief show that. The fact we did the same exact thing to Munchak does as well. It isn’t a good look, but this is the norm in these parts when handling people for some strange reason I can’t understand. It’s why I’ve sworn off southern women. 

[Tormentedrose]

3 hours ago, Number9 said:

What they did was give Mularkey a deal he would refuse to take.  You can stay, but we dictate your personnel.  They will run the offense with input from you of course, but they will have the final say.  You will kinda be like, ah TRac.  Yeah.

Sounds about right.  They threw out a lifeline, he had the choice to let go of his Smashmouth ways  and save his family but  in the end the lure of heavy formations and gimpy running backs was just too strong.  An American Tradgedy.

[The Toddster]

4 hours ago, tgo said:

I'm not sure what the national perception is, but they did go back on their word. Absolutely, no question about it. 

 

Nah.  Dumbo went public after the Chiefs game with something that he shouldn't have made public.  It was a dick move.  The Titans could have blistered him publicly but opted for the vague statement of support in order to allow everyone to return their focus to the upcoming game against the Patriots.  

 

Then there's his press conference after the Patriots game that cannot be explained.  He forced their hand.  Twice.  He asked for it.

 

 

[tgo]

1 hour ago, The Toddster said:

Nah.  Dumbo went public after the Chiefs game with something that he shouldn't have made public.  It was a dick move.  The Titans could have blistered him publicly but opted for the vague statement of support in order to allow everyone to return their focus to the upcoming game against the Patriots.  

 

Then there's his press conference after the Patriots game that cannot be explained.  He forced their hand.  Twice.  He asked for it.

 

 

I'm not saying he didn't ask for it. 

 

I'm saying that they told him they were extending him and then turned around fired him Monday morning, if reports are accurate. 

Edited January 17, 2018 by tgo

[The Toddster]

3 hours ago, IsntLifeFunny said:

You don’t fire a guy in that situation, you offer him something he has to refuse. The fact the extension talks were brief show that. The fact we did the same exact thing to Munchak does as well. It isn’t a good look, but this is the norm in these parts when handling people for some strange reason I can’t understand.

I've lived in the south for over 45 years. When people are fired, the protocol is to tell them they're fired.  

[The Toddster]

2 minutes ago, tgo said:

I'm saying that they told him they were extending him and then turned around fired him the next morning, if reports are accurate. 

And JRob said MM's indescribable display of stupidity (aka the Sunday press conference) impacted his job status.  Being told that you're getting an extension doesn't give you free reign to make a fool of yourself, assuming that the gossip of an extension is true.  

[Bink]

16 minutes ago, tgo said:

I'm not saying he didn't ask for it. 

 

I'm saying that they told him they were extending him and then turned around fired him the next morning, if reports are accurate. 

The official language was "mutually agreed to part ways". Is there any indication that he didn't have an opportunity to accept changes and move forward with the team? Agreements go both ways, and this doesn't appear to be one sided. If he had a chance to stay with coaching changes the word he received was still honored in my opinion.