The Tennessee Titans find themselves with very little left to play for this season, sitting at 5-11 on the year heading into their Week 18 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Despite this, Titans head coach Mike Vrabel made it clear on Tuesday that he cares deeply about coming away with a win in this matchup.
Reporters asked Vrabel about the season finale in a press conference on Tuesday. In particular, he was asked by Gentry Estes of the Tennessean to expand on the importance of this game.
The former NFL star turned Titans head coach responded with a fiery response that expressed his disappointment about the team’s losing season.
“Because it sucks to lose Gentry (Estes),” said Vrabel in a video shared on Twitter/X by Chris Harris of WSMV News in Nashville. “Did you have another thought or no? I’m just curious. It ******* sucks, losing, awful. That’s why I want to win. Because you don’t sleep. You want to win for the players who bust their tail, that’s it. It’s not about going into the offseason on a good note. Nobody knows what you did on January 7th when you come back in April. But you want to see it all come together.”
Heading into the finale of a tough season, Mike Vrabel said today the Titans need to win Sunday for a lot of reasons.
When asked by @Gentry_Estes to expand on what the reasons were, here was Vrabel's response: pic.twitter.com/foNKv1gUCj— Chris Harris (@ChrisHarrisWSMV) January 2, 2024
It wasn’t a question that was out of line from Estes. Vrabel’s angry response was clearly due to some built-up frustration about the season so far for the Titans.
Vrabel appeared to realize he went about answering the question pretty harshly, issuing an apology to Estes about his language at the end of the video.
“You just need to put yourself in a competitive situation and find a way to make a play to win the game. That’s what I hope for. Sorry about my language.”
The Titans have had plenty of success under Vrabel, finishing with over a .500 record for each of his first four seasons as head coach. However, this losing year for the team will be the second straight for Vrabel, which appears to be stressing him and the organization.
The Titans won’t change much with a win over the Jaguars in Week 18. But it sure would be nice for Vrabel and company to end this season in the right way as they prepare for the 2024-25 season.
