NASHVILLE — Mike Vrabel started off his Wednesday news conference by apologizing for using an expletive a day earlier while describing the feeling of losing 18 of the past 23 games.
The Tennessee Titans coach concluded by making very clear he’s not planning on going anywhere once this season ends.
“Of course I want to be here,” said Vrabel, who was hired in January 2018. “Be here as long as we can win, as long as we can do this thing, and it’s been great. But it also has been just this year. And nobody wants to be where we’re at.”
The AP’s NFL coach of the year for the 2021 season, he still has a 55-48 overall record leading the Titans even with consecutive losing seasons. That’s why Vrabel’s future has been a topic of speculation in other markets wanting a new coach despite his contract extension after the 2021 season.
Vrabel is the NFL’s ninth-longest tenured coach with his current team, and nobody won more games through his first five seasons with this franchise. He is the only NFL head coach of six hired in 2018 still with the same team.
He has taken the Titans to three playoff berths, one of which led to the AFC championship game, a No. 1 seed and two AFC South Dvision titles. They missed two other postseasons under Vrabel’s direction, losing the 2018 and 2022 regular-season finales, with his starting quarterback missing those games with injuries.
Tennessee was eliminated on Dec. 17 from contention for a spot in this season’s playoffs, and the Titans (5-11) have lost three straight games going into Sunday’s season finale at home against the rival Jacksonville Jaguars (9-7), who are trying to repeat as AFC South champions.
Vrabel was asked if he addresses all the chatter about his future, and he said no.
“If we believed everything that was on social media, it’d be Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, and there’s no tooth fairy — you know that,” Vrabel said. “So I really have never responded to any of those. And we’re not going to start now.”
Vrabel said he knows exactly where the Titans are as an organization. Team owner Amy Adams Strunk fired general manager Jon Robinson on Dec. 6, 2022, and hired Ran Carthon last January.
Carthon had to cut a handful of veterans to create salary cap space and try to start fixing draft misses and free agent mistakes of his predecessor during his first offseason. The Titans are projected to have the second-most salary cap space this offseason and a draft pick among the first eight spots in April.
Vrabel said he’s excited to build and fix the Titans to be where they want, and that’s winning championships with Carthon and assistant general managers Chad Brinker and Anthony Robinson and the rest of the franchise. So no, Vrabel is not focusing on social media speculation on his future.
The coach noted his Titans keep playing hard. Their past three home games all have been lost by three points each with two of those in overtime. Seven of this season’s losses have been by one score.
“There’s no moral victories, and that’s not a moral victory,” Vrabel said. “But it’s just a lot of times in those situations, you can just pack it up and pack it in.”
Even in this final week, the Titans are trying to fix technique problems and other issues that have cost them chances to win.
“You talk to the team then about that and about eliminating some of the mistakes that … come at critical times and that make it tough to overcome,” Vrabel said.
Rookie quarterback Will Levis, who hurt his right foot early in Sunday’s road loss to the Houston Texans and didn’t return, was among five Tennessee players who did not practice Wednesday. Veteran Ryan Tannehill could wind up starting his final game under contract Sunday.