Titans coaching search is about much more than Marcus Mariota

Joe Rexrode
The Tennessean
Houston Texans defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel became the first to interview for the Titans' vacant head coaching job Thursday.

“Leader of men.”

Those were the first three words out of Titans general manager Jon Robinson’s mouth Monday when asked about the qualities he’s looking for in the head coach he’s trying to find.

It was an interesting choice because, of all the things the exiled Mike Mularkey is alleged to have screwed up in his two winning seasons, that’s not one of them. The Titans played for him and played for each other, going 19-15 in the past two seasons with the franchise’s first playoff win in 14 years.

It also leaves open the door on any kind of candidate, even if it’s easy to imagine Robinson grabbing his favorite young offensive mind with the idea of leading Marcus Mariota to his ceiling. Wherever that is. Robinson used the word “maximize” several times in his presser explaining the firing of Mularkey, and “Maximizing Mariota” should replace “Titan Up” as this franchise’s catch phrase.

But pay attention to the end of Robinson’s answer on the qualities he’s seeking. He said he wants a coach who will “maximize the abilities of the players in all three phases of the game.”

So yes, Mariota is job one. But if we’re going to be prisoner of the moment on the need to find the next Offensive Whiz Kid – the next Sean McVay in Los Angeles or Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco – let’s jump to sweeping conclusions on the football we’re about to watch.

It’s conference championship weekend in the NFL, which is where the Titans want to be and where they better be in short order under the new regime to be announced. Minnesota, Jacksonville, Philadelphia, New England. Those are the final four teams. No. 1, 2, 4 and 5 in the NFL in scoring defense, respectively.

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And with quarterbacks named Case Keenum, Blake Bortles, Nick Foles and Tom Brady, respectively. And with top-10 rushing attacks. Shoot, the Jaguars are a step from the Super Bowl under the coaching of Mularkey crony Doug Marrone after essentially copying the Titans – drafting Leonard Fournette to support Bortles with a power running game.

And maybe Brady will torch the Jags and then the Vikings or Eagles in the Super Bowl to demonstrate once again that an elite quarterback trumps all else. Either way, that’s true and won’t change. Either way, that doesn’t mean quarterback is the only consideration.

If you put Mariota in the place of Keenum, Bortles or Foles right now, could he win a Super Bowl? I think he could. Lesser quarterbacks than Mariota in his current form have won it all. And the idea here is to win it all, not produce an exceptional quarterback rating or win games with style points.

And that’s why the more I think about it, the more I could see a candidate such as Mike Vrabel getting this job. Vrabel, the Houston Texans defensive coordinator this season, was the first candidate to be interviewed, talking with Robinson on Thursday.

He fits the “leader of men” mold as a fiery coach and a guy with credibility in the locker room because he played 14 seasons in the league. He won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, two of them while Robinson was a scout there, so Robinson has more to go on than an interview and the testimonials of others.

And if it isn’t Vrabel, it could be Panthers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, who has more of a proven track record in the NFL. And though the Titans can’t yet interview coaches on teams that are still alive, Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz seems like an obvious option. He was a longtime, successful defensive coordinator with the Titans, yes, but more importantly he did more good than bad as head coach of a pathetic Detroit Lions franchise that owns one playoff win since the 1950s.

Point is, a defensive guy could work here. And in the case of Wilks and Schwartz, Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo could be the accompanying offensive coordinator. That way you’d get the CEO and the route-concept wonk.

If you watched the Eagles this season with Carson Wentz at the controls – before he was lost to a knee injury that made Foles necessary – you might have imagined what Mariota would look like in that kind of scheme. The same may be true if you watched what Jared Goff did with McVay’s Rams this season.

Matt LaFleur, 38 years old and coming off his debut season as Rams offensive coordinator, will interview with the Titans. That will satisfy the Offensive Whiz Kid requirement for this search. But I’m guessing a guy like Vrabel has more of a chance of selling Robinson, one college football defensive lineman to another.

Contact Joe Rexrode at jrexrode@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @joerexrode.