Standing up for Fisher

It was January 10th, 2004, it was my birthday and my buddy and me went to a local bar full of Patriot fans (because thats all there is in eastern Canada) and watched the Titan's in the divisional championship. They had been to the AFC championships the year before, they finished 12-4 this year, had just won a wildcard game the week before and Co-MVP Steve McNair and Eddie George went into one the coldest games ever played ready to cement their legacy.

With 4 minutes left we were down 17-14 with the ball, driving the field, we got inside the Patriot 40 when penaltes backed us up. At this point I am very confident in my team and still taking bets of rounds of beers with everyone at the bar. On 4th and 12 McNair's pass bounced off of Drew Bennett's hands and the Patriots go on to win the Super Bowl. It cost me a lot of agony and beer.

In the next 13 days, Gary Anderson and Frank Wycheck retired and Bud Adams named himself team president.

McNair was never the same after that, he was still the warrior that we loved but the chinks in the armour were starting to show. Eddie George never played another snap for the Titans.  

With many of our greatest players off the roster we moved into the salary cap purge and our remaining high paid players are sent packing, this was the great depression for Titans fans. The last few years were so good, and now there's rubble.

To start rebuilding with 2004 draft (Bud Adams 1st) we traded away our first round pick (ironically used by texas on Jason Babin), and only have 7th round compensitory pick Eugene Amano still on the roster.

In 2005 we drafted Pacman and still have Roos (2nd), Fuller(4th) and Scaife (6th) on the roster.

In 2006 we drafted VY (1st), and still have Tulluch (3rd) and Finnegan (7th) still on the roster.

From 1995 (Fishers 1st full year coaching) until January 10th, 2004 (9 seasons later) The Titans worst record was 7-9.

After surviving a roster overhaul,two awful seasons, a new team president and three+ years of bad drafting in 2006 the Titans finished 8-8 and have not finished with a worse record since.

I'm not sure what any of this really means, but what I want it to mean is that Jeff Fisher is a great coach. I know he shares some of the blame for the VY thing, he shares some of the blame for the bad drafting but he's been hamstringed by a cheap owner who seems to be getting more and more involved in the way.

I don't think its fair to criticize Jeff Fisher for not winning a playoff game in 7 years, the way this team has been run over that time frame he should be applauded for having us in the race every year even though we have no business being there.

This post got longer then I wanted it too but my point is that we've given Fisher a hard time as we sided with Young over the past couple of years.  As it turns out, maybe he was right (we'll never know). Jeff Fisher is the only coach the Titan have ever had and if you love the Titans for their hard hitting defense and grinding running attack you have to like Jeff Fisher. I'm having a hard time letting go of VY but I'm sticking with the coach.