Tennessee Titans players are about to cast votes to support Mike Vrabel – or not | Estes

In weighing coaching decisions in the NFL or college football, team owners and athletics directors have the final say.

Players, though, often get a vote.

Are they playing hard? Or are they not?

It's fair to wonder, with three games remaining in a disappointing regular season, which of those we're bound to see from Mike Vrabel's Tennessee Titans. They've already been eliminated from the playoffs, meaning Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks will be the franchise’s first since the end of the 2016 season that'd be only for pride. Same thing in the rematches to follow with the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars.

That's three games against teams with legitimate playoff aspirations. Three opportunities for the Titans to play spoiler and show some pride – or not.

Three weeks in which the Titans can play to support Vrabel and his coaching staff – or not.

“Focus on today. Be a great teammate,” Vrabel said of his message to the team this week. “Find a way to be decisive, have energy and be ready to play fast and aggressive. That's all we can ask them to do. … Everybody is motivated. We've got to continue to teach and develop and inspire them to do their job better. That's our goal as coaches.”

The odd dynamic of these games, as happens after NFL teams are eliminated, is that it’d benefit the franchise long-term to lose for draft positioning.

But Vrabel’s job is to win and inspire effort in his players. His players' level of fight in these final three games will be a reflection of their buy-in and belief in the franchise's direction. That's true in any game, but the difference here is Vrabel has never before led an eliminated Titans team onto the field. Six seasons into his tenure, it's unfamiliar territory and potentially treacherous.

A total of 14 Titans players were listed on Wednesday’s injury report as not practicing, including some important names: Quarterback Will Levis (ankle), defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons (knee), receiver Treylon Burks (illness), safety Amani Hooker (knee) and cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting (hip).

No reason to rush back any of them. Especially Levis.

Vrabel said Wednesday that Ryan Tannehill would start if Levis could not. While not a surprising decision, it was a revealing one. With Tannehill likely exiting Tennessee after the season, a case could be made for young Malik Willis to get the work.

Tannehill, though, clearly gives the Titans a better chance to win. That's a move for 2023, not 2024.

Must mean something still, right?

Since last weekend’s overtime loss to the Texans, Titans players have gotten a lot of “What’s left to play for?” type of questions from reporters. As Tannehill said, “You have to find some reason to go out there and bring passion and energy.”

For most, that's self-interest. Careers and salaries and contracts.

“If you have aspirations at all to last in this league and your mentality is to let somebody just whoop up on you, you're probably not going to last very long,” linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair added.

The Titans are saying the right things. And nothing about their effort on Vrabel’s watch, even in the worst of times, has suggested they are about to quit on him.

It does happen, though, even among professionals.

Last week, the Los Angeles Chargers trailed the Las Vegas Raiders 42-0 at halftime of a Thursday night game. LA coach Brandon Staley was fired the next day.

For all the speculation about coaches losing a locker room, when it’s actually the case, it’s easy to spot on the field, no matter what players are saying away from it. Actions speak louder than words.

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Can go the other way, too, when players have their coach's back. In the final game of David Culley’s first and only season as Houston Texans coach, they fought the 2021 Titans – the AFC’s No. 1 seed that season – to the wire in a 28-25 defeat. Culley was fired anyway.

Last season’s Carolina Panthers, after a 2-7 start and trade of star Christian McCaffrey, ended up winning four of six to finish the season respectably. Interim coach Steve Wilks still wasn’t retained.

Owners aren’t always paying attention.

Or their minds were already made up. That could be the case with the Titans' Amy Adams Strunk. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported nearly a month ago that the franchise's leadership "believes it has the right coach" in Vrabel.

When asked my thoughts, this has been my answer:

I’d agree – at this point – that Vrabel should be back after the season if he wants to be.

It’s just that the season isn’t over yet.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans players about to vote to support Mike Vrabel – or not