Titans quarterback Will Levis is running what appears to be a overly safe offense after early season mistakes. But that hasn’t translated into wins.

-- Photo By George Walker Iv | Ap

Five games into learning a new system and getting used to new weapons, Will Levis and the Tennessee Titans are stuck in second gear.

New coach Brian Callahan continues to work, as does Levis, but the desired results have not been forthcoming for the Titans, now 1-4 after Sunday’s home 20-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

So what has gone wrong?

I’m no coach or a psychiatrist, but it does feel like something in Levis has changed this season, even without the mistakes made learning a new offense. In reining in a strong-armed gunslinger quarterback like Levis, it makes you wonder if it is breaking his spirit in the process.

The fiery, gung-ho Levis that Titans fans saw as a rookie has been nowhere to be found thus far in 2024. The Levis seen screaming and showing emotion in leading a comeback win in Miami, or having the moxie to engage in a heated conversation with future Hall of Fame receiver DeAndre Hopkins on the sideline, is a distant memory.

That Levis has been replaced by a guy who appears to be overthinking at times with almost a robotic hesitance that rarely showed in his rookie year.

Callahan was brought in to help mold and shape Levis into a franchise quarterback. His job is to weed out the bad in Levis’ game and accentuate and develop the good.

But thus far, it hasn’t translated into wins.

Each Wednesday, an optimistic Levis goes through his media session and always answers questions with thought and insight. You know he understands the game and what he has to do to be an efficient NFL quarterback.

But after games, you hear Levis being apologetic for the mistakes and promising to do better the next time.

Granted, Callahan and his staff know far more football than I, but it sure does seem like there is a fine line that needs to be walked to get the best out of their second-year quarterback.

Let Levis be Levis?

Sure, Levis needs to operate the offense efficiently and go through his reads and progressions and do his best to master the scheme.

But Callahan also needs to let Levis be who he is. Games like Sunday against the Colts, when he averaged less than 4 yards per attempt while throwing for all of 95 yards, is not who Levis is. Or it’s not who he was last year, when despite some ill-advised throws, some of those risks turned into rewards.

With where the Titans currently find themselves – 1-4 and hoping against hope the light comes on soon – why not loosen the reins and see if the daring and dramatic version of Levis can still be found? The interceptions and turnovers are happening anyway in the current setup. But the explosive plays and the swagger that comes with it, have yet to be found in 2024.

After Sunday’s game, Levis admitted that the losing, the shoulder injury and the mistakes affected his attitude and that he had to fight that off.

“We can’t allow the mistakes of the past affect our work ethic and our mentality,” he said. “I had to look at myself the last couple of weeks. Coming off that Monday night game with the injury, I had a slight dip in my behavior, I’d say, or just had to pick myself back up.

“And just having that just kind of brings yourself back to reality, what it takes. We got at least 13 straight more weeks of this stuff. We can’t let up at all if we want to have a chance to win these games. So, we have to have the right mindset.

“I’m going to come in tomorrow the same person as I would have if we won today.”

There’s progress, but…

Levis also said he feels like learning the new offense has made him a better quarterback, even if the results don’t show it.

“I think it’s made me better at the position,” he says. “I think I’m seeing things well. I think the more that I get reps in this offense, the more I’ll know when I can see when those bigger plays are there, where I can start bypassing some of those first or second reads

“And that just comes with reps and that comes with trusting the coverage that you see and the space that you see. And yeah, I just hope to get there in these next few weeks once we get into the meat of the season and hopefully we can just get this thing rolling here pretty soon.”

Callahan admitted Sunday to being a little more conservative and relying on the run game more. But he also knows throwing the ball consistently wins in today’s NFL.

“You’ve got to be able to throw it and throw it with some efficiency and we’ve not done a good enough job of that. And that ultimately is on me. That’s my job,” he says. “I’ve got to find ways to put guys in better position, got to find things that we can execute better than we have, and that’s really all there is to it. You’ve got to throw the ball in the NFL to win, and that’s the bottom line.”

Perhaps unleashing the fiery version of Levis on occasion might be an option.

Terry McCormick also covers the Titans for TitanInsider.com