Tuesday, January 15, 2008 Titans fire offensive coordinator Chow Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Titans fired offensive coordinator Norm Chow on Tuesday after a season of struggling to score, even though they reached the playoffs for the first time since 2003.
Titans coach Jeff Fisher confirmed the dismissal in a short statement. Chow, who had been on staff for three years, and other Titans officials did not immediately return telephone messages left by the Associated Press.
The Titans ranked 21st overall in total yards and became the only team to reach the playoffs in a 16-game season while scoring only nine touchdowns passing.
Fantasy Football: "Luck is where preparation meets opportunity"
LoveBoatCaptain wrote:The only rumors I've heard is that Jim Mora is the leading candidate for the position if he wants the job. Anyone else heard anything?
Heimerdinger according to the local media...
Titans fire offensive coordinator Chow By JIM WYATT • Staff Writer • January 15, 2008 The Tennessean.com
Conventional wisdom said the Titans struggled on offense this season because they didn’t have enough playmakers and their quarterback underachieved.
Coach Jeff Fisher apparently thought otherwise, so on Tuesday he called offensive coordinator Norm Chow and fired him.
The Titans are expected to move quickly to replace Chow and have their sights set on Denver Broncos assistant head coach Mike Heimerdinger, who was Fisher’s offensive coordinator from 2000-04.
Fisher’s phone call caught Chow off-guard. He left Nashville last week to visit his wife in California and was planning to accompany the rest of the coaching staff to Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, Ala.
“It’s just ‘Why?’ ” Chow said. “No one ever came to me and said, ‘I want it done this way’ or ‘why are we doing this?’ I always felt like I coached the right way and if I wasn’t, then someone would tell me. Then all of a sudden this comes out of the blue. Three years of giving everything I had and it took him three minutes.
“It was a shock to me, but you move on. He must have somebody in mind, a friend maybe?’’
The friend appears to be Heimerdinger, who spent the past two seasons with the Broncos after one season with the New York Jets. On Tuesday the Titans requested permission from the Broncos to speak with him.
Fisher declined comment on potential replacements for Chow.
“I gave a lot of thought and consideration to the future and the direction of our offense and made a very tough decision,’’ Fisher said Tuesday night. “I decided to go a different direction and I am very appreciative of the commitment and hard work and everything that Coach Chow did for us the last three years.
“It’s never easy to make decisions like this. But I wanted to go in a different direction. I felt what was best for us was to move on and now we move forward.’’
The Titans had the NFL’s 21st-ranked offense this season and ranked last in red zone efficiency. In nine games they scored one offensive touchdown or less and managed only two field goals in their playoff loss at San Diego.
Many of the struggles were attributed to Young, who followed up his NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year season by throwing twice as many interceptions (18) as touchdowns (nine) in 2007.
Asked if he thought the next offensive coordinator could make things work with Young, Chow said: “Obviously Jeff didn't think that I could. I thought I was. That's the thing. I don't know ... but it's going to take some patience.”
Chow said his working relationship with other members of the coaching staff was good, and wondered if Fisher perhaps sided with Young when it came time to make a decision.
“He sensed some frustrations on my part with Vince. So maybe it was Vince? I don’t know,’’ Chow said. “I am not too concerned with finding out why. It doesn’t matter.’’
Fisher said Young had nothing to do with the final decision. Young could not be reached for comment, but a representative said the second-year pro was blindsided by news of Chow’s firing.
“He was shocked,’’ said Mike Mu, the quarterback’s marketing manager. “I broke the news to him. He thought I was kidding him and didn’t believe it.’’
In-house candidates to replace Chow could include offensive line coach Mike Munchak and quarterbacks coach Craig Johnson, who interviewed for the job in 2005 when Chow was hired.
But all indications are Fisher wants Heimerdinger, who produced two top-10 offenses in his previous stint with the Titans and helped quarterback Steve McNair play well enough to share NFL MVP honors with Peyton Manning in 2003.
With the Titans, Heimerdinger would regain the freedom to call his own plays. With the Broncos he defers to Coach Mike Shanahan.
Chow, 61, interviewed for the head-coaching job at UCLA that went to Rick Neuheisel and has been mentioned as a candidate to become offensive coordinator for the Bruins.
USC’s offensive coordinator from 2001-04, Chow still has a home in the Los Angeles area.
Chow recently signed a two-year contract extension with the Titans believed to be worth more than $1 million per year. He said he was told the Titans are going to honor the deal.
“I have been doing this for a long time. Maybe I want to step back for a year, I don’t know,’’ Chow said. “It’s disappointing the way things worked out, but you have to move on.
“I enjoyed the time, the players, the assistant coaches, cafeteria workers, the security staff, the janitors. I’ll miss a lot of friends that I made there. I don't know what I am going to do to be honest. We’ll see what happens.’’
Fantasy Football: "Luck is where preparation meets opportunity"
Not Chow's fault he didn't have crap to work with on offense. It's not his fault Young can't throw.....Or is it? Wasn't it Chow and Titans management who forced the pick of Young in the draft against Fisher's wishes?
LoveBoatCaptain wrote:The only rumors I've heard is that Jim Mora is the leading candidate for the position if he wants the job. Anyone else heard anything?
Assuming that you are talking about Jim Mora, Jr., that makes no sense as he is a defensive coach.
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There must have been some internal friction. It doesn't make much sense to build your team around a young QB and then dump your OC after he managed to somehow turn LenWhale into a credible RB even though your QB struggled with the growing pains that come wtih the job.
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moochman wrote:There must have been some internal friction. It doesn't make much sense to build your team around a young QB and then dump your OC after he managed to somehow turn LenWhale into a credible RB even though your QB struggled with the growing pains that come wtih the job.
I mentioned it previously. Chow has been extremely critical of Young in the media. It must have come down to whether they wanted to keep the QB or the OC and they made the obvious choice.
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