Former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, who was seen by many earlier this season and following his firing as a hot coaching commodity, has so far failed to land a new job.

-- Photo By Wade Payne | Ap

When the Titans fired Mike Vrabel Jan. 9, the national – and, to a lesser extent, local – opinion was that he wouldn’t be unemployed for long.

A hot commodity like Vrabel, who went 41-24 in his first four seasons with the Titans and got them to the AFC Championship in 2019, would quickly be scooped up by one of the other seven teams with a vacancy this offseason, right?

But when the New England Patriots parted ways with Bill Belichick, they pulled a surprise by ignoring Vrabel and going with Belichick’s righthand man, Jerod Mayo, the former University of Tennessee linebacker, to be their next head coach.

Suddenly, with the Patriots job off the market, Vrabel’s stock began to drop. There were two interviews each with the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers and one with the Los Angeles Chargers, but in each instance, those clubs went with someone else.

The Chargers opted for former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, fresh off a national championship, while the Panthers sourced from inside their division, hiring Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Dave Canales, who revamped quarterback Baker Mayfield and had him playing at an elite level.

The Falcons went a different way, opting for a defensive coach in Raheem Morris, who had been their interim coach in 2020 before they decided on Arthur Smith.

With Dallas and Philadelphia both standing pat with their head coaches, despite quick playoff exits, the game of coaching musical chairs appears to have left Vrabel and Belichick looking for a seat.

Two openings, Seattle and Washington, remain, but neither has given the former Titans coach a sniff.

So, what happened?

Sometimes, coaching hires can be about what is trending at the time in the NFL. In a copycat league, and with so many young offensive-minded coaches out there, including the Titans’ new hire Brian Callahan, the game has trended away from tough guys like Vrabel who emphasize defense and the running game, which most of the NFL abandoned a decade ago.

With the exceptions of Pittsburgh and Cleveland – both of whom cycled through multiple quarterbacks this season – every team that qualified for the postseason this year did so in large part because of offense and quarterback play. A quarterback that those other 12 playoff qualifiers believe to be a franchise type guy was at the controls, and the passing game led the way.

You don’t need to look too far to see what happened with the Titans offense this year – and what Belichick was putting out there in the post-Tom Brady era – to know that even guys who have had previous coaching success would have some explaining to do about what they would do offensively if hired.

Of all the teams looking for head coaches this offseason, only the Chargers presented a true franchise quarterback in Justin Herbert to build around. The Titans are excited about Will Levis’ future, but he’s not there yet, and the weapons around him have to improve.

Of the other openings that have been filled, Seattle has a decent stopgap quarterback in Geno Smith, Washington and Atlanta will be looking in the draft or free agency for an answer and Carolina’s Bryce Young already is going to need a rebuild of his confidence just one year in.

So in today’s NFL, you either have a quarterback, are developing a quarterback or looking for a quarterback.

And with the recent track record of the Titans’ struggles in protecting and putting weapons around their quarterbacks, it’s no wonder the hiring cycle this offseason has apparently passed Vrabel by.

Terry McCormick covers the Titans for TitanInsider.com