NASHVILLE — Brian Callahan, the first-year head coach of the Tennessee Titans, is sticking with second-year pro Will Levis as the team’s starting quarterback despite all the turnovers through three losses to start the season.
One change already has been made at right tackle to help the offensive line try to protect Levis better.
Nicholas Petit-Frere was replaced by Jaelyn Duncan after giving up a strip-sack of Levis, one of three turnovers in a 30-14 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Nissan Stadium. Levis was sacked eight times, the most of his 12 NFL starts since taking over behind center at midseason last fall.
“We’ve got to play better around him,” said Callahan, who after spending the past five seasons as the Cincinnati Bengals’ offensive coordinator was hired in January to replace the fired Mike Vrabel in Nashville.
Callahan took his share of blame for an 0-3 start — Tennessee’s worst since 0-6 in 2009 — that he did not see coming for a franchise that spent tens of millions of dollars to add talent around Levis.
Callahan is calling the plays for an offense that has not scored in the fourth quarter so far, with Sunday’s setback following back-to-back 24-17 losses to the host Chicago Bears and the visiting New York Jets in which Tennessee led at halftime. If he wanted to, Callahan could also blame a defense that has seven new starters and doesn’t have a takeaway this season.
Levis, a second-round pick at No. 33 overall in the 2023 NFL draft, has eight turnovers this year, including two interceptions returned for touchdowns. Two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander got the first pick-six of his NFL career late in the first quarter Sunday, helping Green Bay lead 17-7 after 15 minutes and 20-7 at halftime. The Packers ultimately scored 20 straight points for a 27-7 advantage midway through the third quarter, prompting a loud chant of “Go, Pack, Go!”
Callahan said he is not going to overreact to an interception. The count for Levis, though, is at five after he was picked off twice by the Bears in the Sept. 22 opener at Soldier Field and once by the Jets last weekend. He has also lost a fumble in each game.
“We’ve not played a complete game at any phase at any point yet,” Callahan said. “We’re capable of way better than what we put on the field the last three weeks. No one’s coming to save us, so we’ve got to figure it out.”
Not helping appearances Sunday was the Packers (2-1) being helped to the victory by former Titans quarterback Malik Willis, who won his second straight start while subbing for Jordan Love. Green Bay ruled Love out just before the game, giving their regular starter another week to rest his sprained left knee.
“What he’s been able to do is, I’ve never seen something like this,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of the progress Willis has made in a month with the team. “So hats off to him. Hats off to everybody around him. Guys rallying and having his back.”
AP photo by John Amis / Green Bay Packers quarterback Malik Willis signs autographs before the team’s game against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in Nashville. Willis was traded by the Titans last month, shortly before the start of the season.The Packers acquired Willis in late August via a trade with the Titans, who decided to go with Mason Rudolph as the backup to Levis. Tennessee took Willis in the third round of the draft in 2022, and he started three games as a rookie, but the general manager who selected him was fired that December.
Willis ran for one touchdown and threw for another Sunday in his best performance as a pro while improving to 3-2 as a starter. He accounted for 134 of the Packers’ 137 yards in the first quarter before finishing with 202 yards passing and 73 rushing.
“You don’t know when opportunity will come, but you have to be ready for it if you get it,” Willis said.
The Titans did revive Levis’ connection with four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who had been working his way back after missing much of the preseason with a knee injury. He caught six of seven passes thrown to him for a team-high 73 yards and a touchdown.
Hopkins also was the intended target on the pass Alexander jumped in front of and returned to the end zone during the final minute of the first quarter. Hopkins said the Titans have to improve, and the veteran receiver also told Levis to keep his head up.
“Obviously, he’s made some mistakes, but we’ve all made mistakes,” Hopkins said. “I’ve made mistakes, we’ve all made mistakes. You can’t kick a man when he’s down. We’ve got to lift him up.”
Levis said he knows the Titans’ success or failure rests heavily on him, and that he needs to be better and “not put our team in tough spots” like he has the first three games.
“I can only look inwardly as to what I can do and then also just do my best to rally everybody else around me,” said Levis, who also threw a touchdown pass to Nick Vannett on Sunday. “But yeah, it’s tough. I’m the quarterback of an 0-3 football team. That’s not something that anyone ever wants to say.”
This past week, Levis said he has been avoiding social media and even changed his phone number after receiving text messages from fans offering advice.
Callahan said Duncan, a sixth-round pick out of Maryland in 2023, will get a chance to show what he can do at right tackle. Petit-Frere started 21 of his 22 games played since being drafted in the third round in 2022.
The coach said he wasn’t sure what has happened after Petit-Frere had a good training camp.
“That job is not solidified by any stretch,” Callahan said.
The Titans have lost 21 of their past 27 contests, including the seven-game skid to end the 2022 season after Tennessee’s prime-time win at Lambeau Field over Green Bay that led to the firing of general manager Jon Robinson. A 6-11 record in 2023 for a second straight losing season cost Vrabel his job after six years in Nashville.
Callahan said the Titans need to tackle, protect the ball, take it away and protect the quarterback better.
“We’ll start there,” he said, “and hopefully that looks better.”