Mike Vrabel Returns To Tennessee At The Best Possible Time (for Him)

Dysfunctional teams do dysfunctional things. And, currently, the Titans are among the most dysfunctional in the entire NFL.

As it does with other bad teams that stay bad (Browns and Jets, for instance), the dysfunction flows from the top of the organization. In Tennessee, owner Amy Adams Strunk inherited the franchise from team founder Bud Adams (after a clunky few years flowing from the failure of Adams's estate to designate a controlling owner from among the three branches of his family tree). Her tenure has been sparked by a series of half measures, and by a perception that specific people in the power structure fall in, and out, of her favor.

For now, Chad Brinker has Strunk's ear. For how long will he have it? Maybe G.M. Mike Borgonzi becomes the next perceived savior. Maybe the next coach emerges as "the guy."

One thing is clear. Interim head coach Mike McCoy likely won't emerge as the next trusted confidant. Which means that the Titans will be embarking on a full-blown search for their next head coach.

And the coaching change has come as former coach Mike Vrabel (who never should have been fired) will be returning to town with the AFC East-leading Patriots. He's 4-2 this year. The Titans are 4-19 since firing him.

It's a disaster. It's a mess. And it feels like the Titans have no clear path for finding a way toward contention and, more importantly, relevance.

The Titans, for years, have been irrelevant. Vrabel was making them relevant. Rookie quarterback Cam Ward could make them relevant. They'll need to nail this next coaching hire in order to have a chance to get to where they want to be.

But here's the caveat. If the next coach is too good, too strong, too magnetic, too charismatic, the next coach could end up becoming the next guy who captures the influence in Tennessee — and who engineers the ouster of everyone else.

That's the biggest problem in Tennessee. The owner never presses the reset button. And, because the fans can never press the reset button on ownership, their only way to send a message is to deprive themselves of the thing they love, even when they hate it.