If Tennessee Titans fans were worried head coach Brian Callahan was a poor game manager after he misjudged a challenge call in Week 1, the end of the second half this week against the Colts did little to help the cause. Worse yet, CBS Sports analyst Ross Tucker was on the call to pile onto the second-year head coach as he bungled the end of the first half on his home field.
Down by 11 with the ball at the Colts’ 39-yard line, the Titans initially lined up to go for it on fourth down. Caught off guard, Indianapolis took a timeout. For some reason, Callahan responded with his own timeout. Then, Tennessee opted to kick the 57-yard field goal anyway.
But the Titans’ kicking unit couldn’t line up quickly enough out of the timeout, and drew a delay of game penalty. That’s when Tucker tore into the Titans and drew the CBS audience’s attention to the booing Titans faithful in Nashville.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable,” Tucker said. “The fans are booing, and they should be. I don’t know what happened… but we just went Colts timeout, Titans timeout, Titans delay of game, on a field-goal attempt. That might be a first.”
“It’s absolutely unacceptable. The fans are booing and they should be … We just went Colts, Timeout, Titans Timeout, Titans delay of game on a field goal attempt” – @RossTuckerNFL pic.twitter.com/qp3BKIGcDl
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 21, 2025
The Titans’ embarrassment didn’t stop there. Callahan went back to the field goal anyway, and Slye missed a 62-yarder.
When Indianapolis got the ball back, they marched down the field and kicked a field goal of their own to end the half up 14.
After halftime, CBS sideline reporter Amanda Balionis passed along her understanding from Titans personnel that the cause of the delay of game came from miscommunication between Tennessee’s designated equipment manager and the referees.
After halftime, CBS Sports reporter Amanda Balionis reported that Titans personnel attributed the 2nd quarter delay of game to miscommunication between the referee and the “K ball guy” https://t.co/hDrtaW5zO3 pic.twitter.com/qQCUig7ruZ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 21, 2025
In Week 1, Callahan was roundly mocked by NFL fans for claiming he could not challenge to overturn an incomplete pass. Callahan seemingly did not understand that when a receiver’s elbow hits the turf before he goes out of bounds, this counts as a catch.
After mismanaging another big moment leading to (at least) a six-point turnaround in favor of the Colts, Callahan isn’t likely to avoid criticism any time soon.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.