NASHVILLE - Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk had one charge for Mike Vrabel when she hired him as head coach in January 2018: Implement the "Titan Way" and turn a franchise with one Super Bowl appearance into a consistent championship contender.
The man who won three Super Bowl rings as a linebacker with the New England Patriots has worked with a general manager who got his NFL start with the same storied franchise to push the Titans further each season since taking over and going 9-7 without a playoff appearance his first year.
Vrabel's Titans have gone from a wild-card team that made the AFC title game - losing to the Kansas City Chiefs, who went on to win the Super Bowl - to division champs and now the conference's No. 1 seed. The latter achievement came despite using 91 players during the recently completed regular season, the most by any NFL team in a year not impacted by a players' strike.
Vrabel's next challenge is using a first-round bye to prepare to chase the Titans' first Super Bowl berth in 22 years.
"This is when you have to play your best," Vrabel said. "This is when it matters. There is no do-overs. There is no, 'Hey, let's come back next week and get them.'"
With Vrabel, the Titans have gone 43-26 with that one AFC championship game appearance in January 2020 and back-to-back AFC South Division titles. They just earned the franchise's first No. 1 seed since 2008, finishing 12-5 to tie Kansas City for the AFC's best record but getting the edge because of a head-to-head win against the Chiefs, 27-3 in Nashville in late October.
Left tackle Taylor Lewan's first two seasons in the NFL came when the Titans went a combined 5-27, with Ken Whisenhunt fired in November 2015. A pair of 9-7 seasons followed before Vrabel's hiring. The man who played 14 seasons in the league made clear they were just getting started after the Titans' open date in early December.
"The past coaches didn't set that mentality," Lewan said. "Vrabel has done that. We really believe it that our season is just getting started now."
Ryan Tannehill, who took over as the Titans' starting quarterback in mid-October 2019 after being acquired in a trade with the Miami Dolphins earlier that year, credits Vrabel with doing a great job of setting the tone for Tennessee. He sees Vrabel both creating expectations and holding the Titans to those standards.
Tannehill, who has an NFL-high 13 game-winning drives since taking over, also likes how Vrabel manages games. The coach's aggressive mentality was on display in Sunday's road win against the Houston Texans as the Titans got the ball with 44 seconds left in the first half. Tannehill drove them 64 yards for a touchdown with 11 seconds remaining for a 21-0 halftime lead.
Tannehill said Vrabel and John Streicher, the team's director of football development, study games from around the NFL each week so the head coach has a plan for each possible situation. Vrabel, added to the league's competition committee in November, also knows the NFL rule book inside and out.
The Titans have won a league-high 12 games decided by three or fewer points since 2019. Since 2018, nobody has more comeback wins when trailing by seven or more points in the fourth quarter than the Titans' seven such rallies.
"That is part of his job. Then, conveying the message each and every week, giving the team something to rally behind, holding us accountable," Tannehill said. "It all falls in his job title, and he does a good job of being efficient in all those areas."
AP photo by Justin Rex / Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill celebrates after Sunday's 28-25 road win against the Houston Texans to close the regular season and earn the AFC's top seed and lone playoff bye.This season has tested the skills of Vrabel and his coaches, along with general manager Jon Robinson and his staff. Injuries started taking a toll when kicker Sam Ficken was lost two days before the season opener. The Titans used three more new players in the regular-season finale, the 28-25 win at Houston to clinch the top seed, to push the total to 91.
That group included a player signed off the Buffalo Bills' practice squad on a Wednesday playing 42 snaps at left tackle in the next game, the big win against the Chiefs. Greg Mabin signed the same day as offensive tackle Bobby Hart was claimed, and Mabin started at cornerback against the Chiefs.
The Titans lost the NFL's leading rusher midway through the season when Derrick Henry broke his right foot on Oct. 31 during an overtime win against the Indianapolis Colts and had surgery two days later. The Titans continued a six-game winning streak without Henry - who topped the 2,000-yard mark during the 2020 season, when he was named the NFL's offensive player of the year after leading the league in rushing for the second season in a row - with the final five wins over 2020 playoff teams for an 8-2 start.
They signed D'Onta Foreman off the street the day Henry had surgery, and Foreman finished as the Titans' second-leading rusher with three 100-yard games. Henry returned to practice last week but didn't play against the Texans; he could be back for the divisional round the weekend of Jan. 22-23.
Vrabel's biggest challenge may have been the events of Dec. 23. Lewan and left guard Rodger Saffold already had been ruled out with injuries, then came a positive COVID-19 test for Saffold. Then Kendall Lamm, set to replace Lewan, tested positive on the morning of their game against the San Francisco 49ers.
That left rookie Dillon Radunz to make his first NFL start at left tackle after preparing all week to back up both tackles - and the Titans edged the 49ers 20-17 in the Thursday prime-time matchup. Tannehill credits the confidence Vrabel projects that no matter who's playing, someone will grab his opportunity.
Vrabel said the bottom line is everyone wants to win.
"The big thing about this is you never want to sleep on this game," he said. "You never want to feel like you have arrived. You never want to feel like you have all the answers."
Tennessee safety Kevin Byard believes Vrabel should be the league's coach of the year for how he has guided the Titans through this season to the AFC's top seed. However, Byard knows a big reason people mention the "Patriot Way" is because of New England's six Super Bowl titles.
"We don't have a Titan Way until we win a Super Bowl," Byard said, "so I think that's what's next."
Vrabel couldn't agree more.
AP photo by Eric Christian Smith / Julio Jones (2) celebrates his touchdown with fellow Tennessee Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown and other teammates during the second half of Sunday's road win against the Houston Texans.