If the Tennessee Titans no longer want Marcus Mariota, I’d be happy to help him find a house in, say, Denver?
The guy needs out.
Mariota was benched on Sunday in Tennessee’s fourth loss of the season. And while the former Heisman Trophy winner from Oregon looked uncomfortable and played poorly, all that’s left for him in Nashville is an evacuation effort.
Three head coaches in five seasons. Four play callers, too. Sacked a league-high 25 times this season. The Titans have failed Mariota miserably. Their prized No. 2 overall 2015 draft pick hasn’t had continuity of system or personnel. He’s not been surrounded by nearly enough talent, and I’m hoping what happens next is his exit.
After Sunday’s benching, coach Mike Vrabel was asked why Mariota (59.1 percent completion percentage this season) has regressed since he took over as coach.
Vrabel’s answer: “I guess I’m just not a very good coach.”
He was being sarcastic. I think. But on a fundamental level, the Titans just aren’t a well-run NFL operation. They’re owned by “KSA Industries," a holding company owned and run by the heirs of legendary Houston Oilers’ owner Bud Adams. KSA also owns an interest in some walnut orchards in California, car dealerships and a cattle ranch. But when it comes to football, they are a disorganized outfit.
Mariota was drafted in 2015. Seven games into his rookie season, head coach Ken Whisenhunt was fired. In 2016, general manager Ruston Webster got blown up. The controlling owner changed, too, in early 2016 when Susie Adams Smith handed the keys to her sister Amy Adams Strunk.
Then, in summer 2017, Smith stepped forward to announce she wanted to sell her 33 percent stake in KSA and get out of the football business. It was tricky. Strunk’s presence meant there would be no path to majority ownership for a potential investor. That stalled the sale.
Ownership is splintered. The front office is unstable. And the football operations has been a revolving door. Give the Titans credit -- there’s total congruency in the franchise. Just not the good kind. The fact that Tennessee went 29-25 since Mariota was drafted 2015 isn’t disappointing.
It’s a blasted football miracle.
Blame Mariota?
OK. He was rattled and inaccurate against the Broncos. Maybe it was bound to happen. But until last Sunday Mariota was the only quarterback in the NFL who had started every one of his team’s games and not thrown an interception or had a fumble.
While the Titans’ kicker missed a line of field goals in a close loss, and the linemen missed their blocks to start the season, Mariota hadn’t just shown up for work. He’d done it with back-up Ryan Tannehill brought in over his shoulder. Until Sunday, Mariota’s play hadn’t been the problem, but weeks ago he was already being fashioned as the franchise scape goat, wasn’t he?
Vrabel wasn’t going to bench himself for poor performance.
The front office wasn’t about to announce, “We’ve been bad, we’re going to let someone else try.”
Ownership would never admit it failed.
So it’s on Mariota.
That’s how this NFL game works. Former Ducks quarterback Joey Harrington, who toiled with the Detroit Lions, knows it. And I suspect current Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert, a potential high pick himself, is also studying what’s happening with Mariota. If not, Herbert ought to be. Because being a top pick is great, but it also means part of the job is to somehow unwind generational mistakes, overcome bad franchise DNA and save a struggling franchise.
Tannehill or Mariota? That’s become the question to ask this week in Tennessee. One Vrabel must already know, down deep, can’t be answered correctly. The coach loses either way. The dirty secret is that either quarterback would be fine with a better offensive line and more continuity. But neither guy will get it done under these working circumstances.
It’s a high-wire act in gusting winds.
I’m holding out hope that Mariota doesn’t have to take another snap in a Titans uniform. That he sits for the rest of the season, or gets released today. Worst case, he gets set free at the end of his rookie contract and can sign with another team. Because he’d be a terrific fit with the right franchise.
You know, a stable NFL franchise with total congruency of vision from ownership to front office to coaching staff, on down.
That is not at all the Tennessee Titans.
Still, there was Mariota after being benched with, “It starts with me; I have to do a better job.”
I wish he’d just said, “Aloha,” and walked out.