The Tennessee Titans had two vacancies to fill this offseason at offensive and defensive coordinator, and they made the decision to promote from within for both positions on the same day. On Friday, the Titans announced that they had officially promoted tight ends coach Todd Downing to offensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen to defensive coordinator.
"I spent the last two weeks evaluating our current staff and talking with others outside our organization," head coach Mike Vrabel said in a statement. "I am excited for all of these guys taking the next step with us."
Downing just finished his third season with the Titans. With Arthur Smith gone, the decision for who to hire as offensive coordinator was an important one for Tennessee. The Titans decided to employ the same strategy they did when promoting Smith from tight ends coach to offensive coordinator, and once again promoted their current tight ends coach to run the offense. Downing has an impressive resume, as he served as a quarterbacks coach or tight ends coach for four other different NFL teams. Downing also served as the Raiders offensive coordinator in 2017 after spending two years as their quarterbacks coach. During his Raiders tenure, he helped Derek Carr earn three consecutive Pro Bowl appearances.
The Titans finished the 2020 regular season with the No. 3 overall offense in the league in terms of yards of total offense per game and the No. 2 rushing offense. However, the Titans' passing offense finished 23rd in the league, which is likely something Downing would look to improve upon in 2021.
Bowen, the new defensive coordinator, just wrapped up his third season as Tennessee's outside linebackers coach. Vrabel took over as the de facto defensive coordinator after Dean Pees decided to retire following the conclusion of the 2019 season, and the Titans' defense took a noticeable dip in 2020. Tennessee ranked fifth-worst in the league when it came to total yards allowed per game this season, and fourth-worst in passing yards allowed per game. The Titans also had the worst third-down defense in the league. Some were hopeful Pees would come out of retirement again and rejoin the Titans, but he actually followed Smith to the NFC South and joined the Atlanta Falcons as their defensive coordinator.
"I think that this thing kind of took a life of its own," Vrabel said earlier this month when asked about not hiring a defensive coordinator in 2020, via Pro Football Talk. "I guess that it was really important. But Shane (Bowen) led the meetings, Shane led the walk-throughs. Shane called the defense. And, again, I think we get caught up too much in titles. And I guess I apologize because clearly I didn't think it would take on a life of its own. But we'll coach better, we'll play better."
Vrabel clearly did not think tabbing someone as the Titans' official defensive coordinator was something that was necessary, but it's what they decided to do with Bowen. It will be interesting to see how much changes with the defense in 2021.
