Memo to the next Titans head coach and his staff: All losses hurt. But in the eyes of owner Amy Adams Strunk, some appear to sting far worse than others.
An addendum to that memo: Don’t make a habit of losing to the Houston Texans.
We’ll take those theories all the way back to November of 2015, just eight months after Strunk had been named the Titans’ primary owner.
In Strunk’s first trip back to Houston — which of course happens to be her hometown, and the city from which her father, Bud, moved the Oilers to Tennessee — the Titans stunk things up royally in a 20-6 loss to the Texans.
The lingering image from the game was that of battered, gimpy Titans quarterback Zach Mettenberger, hobbling off the field after J.J. Watt and company had buried him seven times in the backfield.
We all knew the ax was coming at some point for coach Ken Whisenhunt, whose record at that point was 3-20. But there seems little coincidence the end came two days after the Houston contest, which was the Titans’ sixth straight loss.
In the statement announcing Whisenhunt’s firing, Strunk noted that “after thoughtful consideration,” the decision has been made to relieve Whisenhunt of his duties.
One year later, new head coach Mike Mularkey surprisingly fired special-teams coach Bobby April four games into the 2016 season. His unpardonable crime? One day earlier, in a 27-20 loss to Houston, the Titans had surrendered a punt return for a touchdown and committed a key special-teams penalty as well.
Fast forward to 2022, when Strunk’s Titans suffered a loss that had to be especially galling, even if it didn’t come at the hands of the Texans. Thanks in large part to a two-touchdown performance from former Titans receiver A.J. Brown, who’d been traded to Philly by GM Jon Robinson, the Eagles smoked Tennessee 35-10.
During the game, plenty of seemingly well-lubricated Eagles fans taunted the Titans’ suite, apparently their unusual way of celebrating the Brown acquisition. Two days after suffering through that indignity, Strunk dropped the guillotine on Robinson, who at that point had led a franchise resurrection and sported a 66-43 record since taking over in 2016.
Then there was this year’s home loss to Indianapolis, in which the Titans embarrassed themselves — and no doubt their owner — by suffering back-to-back punting calamities that led to 10 Colts points in a 31-28 overtime Indy victory.
Sure enough, special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman got his pink slip later in the week, with Titans coach Mike Vrabel — when asked if he’d talked to Strunk before the move — offering a less than definitive response.
Speaking of Vrabel, one thing he’d done decently well in his first five years was beating the hated Texans — hated by Strunk, anyway. In his first five years, Vrabel went 6-4 against Houston, which included a season-ending victory in Houston in 2021 that clinched the AFC’s No. 1 seed.
This year? Not so much.
It was a testament to Strunk’s feelings towards the Texans that she chose the home Houston contest as one of the two games to don the Oilers throwback uniforms. Houston Oilers banners ringed the stadium’s playing field. Earl Campbell and Eddie George attended. Former Oilers great Billy “Whiteshoes” Johnson was inducted into the franchise’s Ring of Honor at halftime.
So how do we think Strunk handled losing 19-16 in overtime to a Texans team led by Case Keenum? Probably not well.
Just two weeks later, the Titans had a chance to redeem themselves in Houston, but were steamrolled 26-3 by the Texans on a day that — see if this rings a bell — Tennessee’s quarterbacks were battered by six sacks.
What did Strunk see in front of her at that point?
Her Titans had just been swept by the Texans for the first time since 2015. New Houston coach DeMeco Ryans had a 2-0 record against Vrabel, and Texans rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud looked like a superstar in the making. The Texans were on the verge of making the playoffs, while the Titans sat at 0-5 in the division heading into the season finale.
Were those kinds of losses on their own enough to doom Vrabel, who’d guided the Titans to four winning records, three playoff berths, two division titles and an AFC Championship appearance in six seasons?
Almost certainly not. The reasons surely — hopefully — go deeper than that.
But it’s pretty clear that some losses in particular tend to move Strunk to action, swift action.
So circle those Texans games on the 2024 schedule, Mr. Future Coach of the Titans.
Don't make losing to Houston a habit. And closely connected to those words of warning: Don't embarrass this owner.