For Tennessee Titans fans excited about the changes in store for the moribund franchise after the season, I’m sure the weekend news hit like a cold fish to the face when the team decided to make interim head coach Mike Mularkey the official head coach.
New #Titans GM Jon Robinson saved what was an otherwise awkward press conference. Mike Mularkey didn't exactly rejuvenate the fans today.
— P.L. Colter (@plcolter) January 18, 2016
The Philadelphia Eagles did a little better in hiring Doug Pederson has their new head coach. Pederson was at least on a few interview lists, but as uninspiring hires go, this one is as vanilla as it gets.
It's official! The #Eagles have named Doug Pederson as their new head coach: https://t.co/DlCAfheDhI pic.twitter.com/sTRFp2PQyJ
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 18, 2016
Of all the horrible head coaching decisions made by NFL teams this season, including the call not to fire some guys (I’m looking at you Mike McCoy, Jim Caldwell and Jeff Fisher), this one could end up being the worst. At best, it’s lack of inspiration will be a setback to a franchise and its fans who had every reason to expect great things in the future with quarterback Marcus Mariota.
After dumping Andy Reid for his Andy Reid-ness, the Eagles have hired his carbon copy clone three years later. Now, if Pederson is Andy Reid Part 2, that’s certainly an improvement over Kelly, but everything Pederson represents, including laughably bad clock management, is exactly what the Eagles ran out of town three years ago.
Who is Doug Pederson? Learn more about the new #Eagles head coach and his return to Philly: https://t.co/jMCu2kF79o pic.twitter.com/nCdRo5yiyF
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 18, 2016
Pederson is basically Andy Reid’s NFL son. When the team first hired Reid as its head coach back in 1999, Pederson was the first free agent he signed. Pederson, back then, was the Green Bay Packers’ No. 3 quarterback and Reid handed him the keys early until Donovan McNabb was ready to take over.
This is Pederson’s second head coaching job and first at the NFL level, though he’s been a coordinator and position coach since 2009 (all under Reid). Pederson was the head coach at Calvary Baptist Academy, a high school in Shreveport, La. from 2005-2008. Pederson was on his way to being an NFL head coach, so he’s not a bad hire in that regard. He’s just a ridiculous hire for the Eagles.
#Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie on Doug Pederson: pic.twitter.com/rkAXqUEzsM
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) January 18, 2016
For the Titans and Mularkey, you have to wonder how much it has to do with money. After firing their last three head coaches before their contracts were up, Tennessee has had to fork over millions of dollars to pay guys not to coach. I’d imagine that Mularkey was offered a bargain contract and since he has no business at all being a head coach in the NFL, he jumped at the chance to prove it once again.
I say “again” because this is Mularkey’s third (yes, THIRD) head coaching job in the NFL. And if you had no idea that he’d coached two NFL teams before, I’m sure you’re not alone. The reason you were clueless at Mularkey’s head coaching history is because he’s been so ridiculously bad at it. Mularkey’s best season came as an interim coach in 2004 after the Buffalo Bills fired Gregg Williams. Mularkey was able to take that Bills team to a luck-fueled 9-7 finish. As with the Titans, Mularkey was named the official head coach for the following season. He promptly led the team to a 5-11 finish and was fired.
The dislike of the #Titans hire of Mike Mularkey has now gone into rap form: https://t.co/vL7tggfXwq
— Steve Layman (@SteveLayman) January 18, 2016
Mularkey’s second head coaching job came with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2012. They went 2-14 and, you’ll not be shocked to learn, he was fired. So if you can do math, you can see that the Titans just hired a guy who’s been fired after each of his only two full seasons as a head coach and has amassed a head coaching record of 19-35.
Now Mularkey is not a horrible position coach. He’s actually thrived as a tight ends coach in the NFL and that was the position had with the Titans before the team kicked Whisenhunt to the curb.
MIKE MULARKEY FUN FACT #127: Before he was the @Titans coach, he was a beloved Tecmo Bowl wonder: pic.twitter.com/9kOrh91nbe
— Marc Sessler (@MarcSessler) January 18, 2016
As on offensive coordinator, he’s specialized in mobile quarterbacks with poor accuracy back with the Michael Vick Atlanta Falcons and the Kordell Stewart Pittsburgh Steelers. And while Mariota is a mobile guy, he’s accurate and his future in the league is as a pocket passer. Whether Mularkey can put that kind of offense together at the NFL level remains to be seen.
Would you keep a coach who went 2-14 and 3-13 in consecutive years? That's Mike Mularkey. He's 5-27 in his last 32 games as a head coach.
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) January 16, 2016
Pederson will have to pick out a quarterback and is kind of the same position Reid was when he signed Pederson as a free agent in 1999. The Eagles pick high enough that they could have a shot at three of the top five prospects in the upcoming draft (Paxton Lynch, Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, Connor Cook and Dak Prescott). He could also re-sign Sam Bradford, who should have a much easier time in a run-heavy Reid/Pederson style offense. There’s also a chance the Los Angeles Rams set Nick Foles free and there’s little doubt that Pederson would bring him in as his QB out of familiarity alone.
The Eagles will probably be fine with Pederson. They certainly have the roster to be a nine-win team depending on whatever quarterback they take the field with. The Titans, on the other hand, are a potential dumpster fire and if Mularkey doesn’t live up to the definition of his name, no one will be more shocked than me.
