Curtains For Whiz

The Titans just fired Ken Whisenhunt. He will not be missed. At least to Titans fans, all six of us.

Whiz (gee, that’s apt) did not have the sterling-est rep. He enjoyed success as an O.C. with Roethlisberger, hit the QB jackpot with Kurt Warner as Arizona’s HC, and had a hand in Phil Rivers’s resurgence in 2013. But he has never been a QB developer (see Leinart, Matt; Skelton, John). The knock is deserved.

Kenny Boy came to Tennessee because former HC Mike Munchak refused to fire several of his buddies assistant coaches. Whisenhunt displayed a similar devotion to his guys, including zero upside Charlie Whitehurst (why?), Harry Douglas (the #1 WR over Kendall Wright /drinks 4 ozs. of Clorox/), and World Beater Dexter McCluster. McCluster has been kinda decent, but Ken refused, game after game, to call more than 18 running plays AND give ANY RB more than 7 touches a game. Not a fan of rhythm; he’s like the John Cage of the rushing game.

This year Mr. Walks Away With His Tail Between His Legs retained on the roster four (4, FOUR!!!) wide receivers, and about 23 tight ends.  So you kinda figure rushing will be emphasized, especially when the OL is inexperienced, injury prone, and pervious. And let’s not forget flagful AND passive: when Olivier Jordan injured Mariota with a low hit, there was no retaliation.  (Jeff Fisher would have put reserve linemen just to mix shit up with the Miami DLs and get tossed from the game.) Ken even left a visibly limping Mariota in the game. Hey, the kid’s tough! Let’s add even more risk to development-stalling hits. That was the chosen option by a professional football coach.

Whiz never owned to his mistakes. “Right now I want to win a football game. I am a good play-caller, I don’t have any questions about that” (via Jim Wyatt), and other self-serving blame deflections (“We’re close”) characterized his stint. Well man: you took a 7-9 outfit and turned it into a 3-20 doormat. On a division that has just gotten worse. Losses turned into streaks, streaks into deep funks. This year the NFL gifted Tennessee with three cake road games (Tampa, Cleveland, and Houston) sandwiching the rare four-game homestand, with a bye after the first home game.  After the Bucs victory, Former Coach turned the  other six games into David Carr Sack Camps for his number two pick and his prospect slash project understudy. This clip of last Sunday’s Texans game is vintage Titans Whiz.

Mike Mularkey takes over as HC. Tch, at this stage, even Jerry Burns would be an acceptable coaching option. At least Burns would be Dick LeBeau’s dream double date partner.

In short: good riddance, later, and adiós. I rue every time I double checked to see if I spelled your name correctly. Good luck plying your awesome playcalling prowess in Madden for GameCube.