Titans fire Brian Callahan, begin coaching search

The Tennessee Titans fired head coach Brian Callahan on Monday after a 1-5 start to the season, the organization announced, making Callahan the first NFL head coach dismissed this year. The move leaves the team searching for its third head coach in four years and opens a high-profile vacancy for the offseason and beyond.

"While we are committed to a patient and strategic plan to build a sustainable, winning football program, we have not demonstrated sufficient growth," Titans president of football operations Chad Brinker said in a statement. "Our players, fans, and community deserve a football team that achieves a standard we are not currently meeting, and we are committed to making the hard decisions necessary to reach and maintain that standard." Callahan, who was 4-19 overall in nearly one and a half seasons, was dismissed after Sunday’s loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.

Callahan, a former walk-on at UCLA who worked his way into the NFL coaching ranks, had previously served as a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator before being hired as Tennessee’s head coach. He arrived after stints on several staffs, including a Super Bowl-winning year as an assistant with the Denver...