Oct 12, 2025; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Devin White (45) hits Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward (1) and causes a fumble during the second half at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

In a move the entire sports world saw coming, the Tennessee Titans fired Brian Callahan from his position as head coach following a putrid 1-5 beginning to the season.

After a 20-10 loss to an equally struggling Las Vegas Raiders side, Callahan, knowing his tenure was already in the crosshairs, aimed criticism at No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward.

"I am incredibly discouraged by the outcome," he said in the post-game press conference. "…And we all gotta be better, Cam's a part of that too, Cam's gotta play better football as well."

While he admitted that he must coach better and the rest of the team had to step up, the fragile partnership between coach and quarterback was hanging on by a thread. Callahan, who impressed as an offensive coordinator during Cincinnati's run to the Super Bowl, led the Titans to the No. 1 pick in 2025 and ended his run with a 4-19 overall record.

For the fourth-straight time, a quarterback taken No. 1 overall has seen his head coach fired in the middle of his rookie season.

Matt Eberflus watched as Caleb Wiliams got sacked into the ground a thousand times per game before getting let go. Frank Reich and Bryce Young were so bad together that Panthers fans were wondering if they should trade Young for a late-round pick after his first season. And then you had Urban Meyer getting the keys to the highest-grade quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck in Trevor Lawrence, which ended in one of the worst coaching crashouts in NFL history.

Can we please stop this, NFL franchises? If you're going to invest in a new sports car, why are you letting the person who crashed the family Buick into the corner deli store off the hook? While the coach isn't entirely at fault for how poorly the team does most of the time, why try to usher in a new era of a team with a lame duck coach?

Jeff Fisher had a strong pedigree and was well-liked, playing a key role in the Rams' move back to Los Angeles in 2016. Yet, he had no idea how to develop their future quarterback, Jared Goff. Goff had one of the worst rookie seasons of all time under Fisher, prompting pundits to compare him to Ryan Leaf and believe his career was over before it even started.

We all know what happened next. Sean McVay, the wunderkind, steps in at 30 years old, builds an offense to utilize Goff's talents, and he has gone on to have a fantastic career with the Rams and Dan Campbell's Detroit Lions. We've also seen the recent rise of former castaways like Sam Darnold with Seattle and Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay, both having great seasons in 2024 and now in the conversation for MVP in 2025.

For whatever reason, though, franchises continually give chances to coaches who have been from a period of failure in that team's history and hope the shiny sports car will make them a better driver.

It doesn't.

The day your team selects a rookie quarterback in the first round should be a moment of celebration. It's waving a gigantic flag in front of your fans, signaling that things are changing. We might not be a Super Bowl contender today, and it might not happen next year, but there's hope. There's excitement.

Although there are some cases, like Brian Daboll in New York, where they're revived with the injection of youth, this case involves Jaxon Dart and Cam Skattebo. However, he's the exception and not the rule. For every heartwarming story of a coach on their back foot changing things around with the addition of a special player, there are a dozen news reports of a coach who struggled before and was ousted because they couldn't connect with their new quarterback.

While I bang the drum that this should end and rookie quarterbacks should be explicitly paired with someone who can get the best out of them and not vice versa, I know it won't.

Next year, a team that drafts Fernando Mendoza, Dante Moore, LaNorris Sellers, or another possible first-round quarterback will keep their current head coach. They'll say that he is the man for the job and has excellent chemistry with the future face of their franchise. Then they'll go 2-8, that rookie will have more interceptions than touchdowns, and they'll be out the door as the franchise hopes to find an offensive coordinator somewhere to unlock their prized player.

Hopefully, Cam Ward will find that coach. The Titans already failed him once by saddling him with one who always had one foot out the door.

This article originally appeared on Touchdown Wire: Cam Ward deserved better as NFL teams keep failing their rookie quarterbacks

Reporting by Tyler Erzberger, Touchdown Wire / Touchdown Wire

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