Tennessee Titans: Preconceived Notions

Call it growing older.  Call it becoming jaded.  Call it group think.

Call it what you will, but as people grow older they become more and more rooted in their beliefs.

It's the height of political season and unfortunately for me I can barely look at my Twitter without constant quotes pointing fingers at how stupid or egregious one or the other of the candidates is.  There are serious issues with race relations across the country, with people firmly entrenched on their side.  Now the same thing can be said for my football team.

Pick a candidate.  Either one.  Now have them do something incredibly horrific, (not hard to imagine).  That candidate will still have supporters and defenders regardless, especially if it's the opposing side that points out this event.  Excuses will be made and counterpoints will fly.  Now have that same candidate sneak out to a food shelter and cook all night with no cameras or press in order to feed sick and hungry children.  The opposition would shrug it off or find some fault in it.  While the supporters would scream it from the mountain tops.  It's amazing how we only see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear.

It's amazing how we never out grow "see I told you so."

There's an issue with the Titans quarterback, face of the franchise, and future hope Marcus Mariota.  There's a number of people that think the issue is head coach Mike Mularkey.  He's crippling Mariota, ruining him, and not bending the system to fit his skill set and what he does best.  It's interesting to me that some of these same people came down on the other side of the same conversation when it related to Jake Locker and Ken Whisenhunt.

I would venture to say that's because these people did or didn't like a particular half of the equation from the get go.  Once this belief is rooted, it's easy to point at any downfall of the opposing party and use it as evidence and proof to further back your existing stance.  If you liked Locker, Whisenhunt was horrible.  Good coaches should work to the strengths of their players.  The same thing is being said about Mularkey now in relation to Mariota.  If you didn't like Locker before hand, then he was the problem all along, Mettenberger was the answer, and so forth.

It seems that those that want Mularkey gone, always have.  Has this season gone any different than you thought it would?  Has your opinion changed from what you thought of Mularkey, Mariota, or the Titans in general?  Or have you just reinforced your previous notions?  Are you ignoring the progress the team has made in other areas?  Or are you using that as ammo to say it is Mariota's fault?

I write this at the risk of painting with a broad brush.  This isn't all fans.  Yes you are allowed to have an opinion and yes you should argue it.  That's what this site and being a fan is all about.  The fact that you care enough to do so puts us all in the same boat.

This article isn't trying to persuade someone from not thinking Mularkey was a bad hire or is a bad coach.  Nor am I trying to move people on to the Mariota bandwagon if they aren't already on it.  On too many issues people have quick a finger on the "see I told you so"  trigger, without acknowledging information or evidence that might prove otherwise  Both in football, politics, you name it.  Let's argue, but let's also listen.

So I ask you this.  Does it taste great?  Or is it less filling?  Or maybe, just maybe, could it be both?  How about we have a few and find out before making our minds up?