Vacchiano: Titans' patience with Fisher paying off

The Tennessee Titans, with their starting quarterback standing on the sidelines, are the surprise of the NFL so far with an impressive 4-0 record. And if this were almost any other franchise, their head coach wouldn’t have been around to see it.
 
By the modern rules of pro sports in the 21st century, Jeff Fisher never should’ve gotten to the 21st century as the leader of this resurgent Titans team. Most coaches wouldn’t have survived his first 4 ½ seasons, which produced six more losses than wins and no records better than 8-8. And even with a run of four 10-plus-win seasons from in five years and a trip to the Super Bowl between 1999 and 2003, he would’ve been gone after going 9-23 in 2004-05 if this were any other team.
 
In fact, that’s what many Titans fans wanted. That’s what many in the media wanted, and expected, too. Fisher even seemed to get into a power struggle with then-Titans GM Floyd Reese, who appeared to want to appease the growing restless mob.
 
But Bud Adams, the ultra patient owner of the Titans, didn’t. He wanted stability, which is something he sure knew all the great franchises in NFL history have had. So he made the choice, though unpopular in some places, to stick with his embattled coach and give him a chance to turn things around. In fact, even before the surprising start to this season, he had locked Fisher until 2011 for about $6 million per year.
 
It’s remarkable, really, when you think of what Fisher has accomplished. The 50-year-old former defensive coordinator — and disciple of the Buddy Ryan 46 defense — is the only coach the Titans have ever had. He was there when they made their controversial move from Houston where they were once the Oilers to a city that no one was sure would be able to support a professional football team. He was there when they became an NFL power from 1999-2003, including their heartbreaking loss in Super Bowl XXXIV when they lost on the final play, less than a yard from the winning score.
 
The most remarkable achievement, though, is what happened next. The Titans fell on hard times in 2004, going 5-11. Then things got worse in 2005 when they went 4-12.
 
Where else would a coach have survived back-to-back 10-loss seasons, especially this late in his career when the popular theory is that players have started tuning the coach out? Heck, up in New York, Tom Coughlin had taken the Giants to the playoffs in two straight seasons in 2005 -06, including one 11-win season in which the Giants won the NFC East. And he still nearly lost his job before last year’s magical run.
 
The sad truth of professional sports is that patience isn’t just a virtue nowadays, it’s pretty much a myth. Fans being charged exorbitant prices for tickets now have 24-hour-a-day platforms on radio, TV and the internet to voice their displeasure. The media is bigger and more relentless than ever, and much quicker to offer judgment.
 
In the face of all that, smart businessmen with plans often get stupid and throw out five-year blueprints two years early. Decisions they believed in with all their heart one year, they find themselves rethinking (and redoing) the next.
 
That’s no way to run a business and no way to run a team.

Adams seems to get that, much like the Rooneys in Pittsburgh, who change coaches far less frequently than our country changes presidents. Fisher is in his 13th season as the Titans’ head coach. The previous 12 have included only five winning seasons. No coach anywhere else, with the possible — but not definite — exception of Pittsburgh could have survived a record like that.
 
But in the early years, Adams had the patience to see what Fisher was building, and it paid off from 1999-2003. And in the next two years he had the patience and resolve to know he had a good coach with a good plan and, against all odds, he trusted him to rebuild.
 
This appears to be Adams’ big payoff. In a year in which the Titans lost — at least temporarily — star young quarterback Vince Young, they have proven that with steady Kerry Collins at the helm, a strong running game and a dominant defense, they’re back among the ranks of the NFL’s elite.
 
And Fisher, once the toast of the NFL before being tagged with the dreaded moniker “embattled”, is back on top with the Titans once again. With almost any other owner, Fisher would be patrolling someone else’s sidelines by now. But patience remains a virtue down in Tennessee.

Ralph Vacchiano is the author of Eli Manning: The Making of a Quarterback, which is available for purchase here.

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