Adams Should Have Dumped His Entire Family

Bud Adams had a decision to make. Would he get rid of the coach who has been manning the sidelines for 16 seasons? Or would he go with the troubled quarterback who he has backed so many times before?

All things considered, the Tennessee Titans owner made a good call in choosing to bring back Jeff Fisher for a 17th season and ridding the organization of Vince Young, who will be either traded or released. But if Adams really wanted to do what is best for the Titans organization, he should have said good-riddance to both and started fresh.

If Adams' thought process was to choose one over the other, he made the right choice with Fisher. Had he dumped Fisher and kept Young aboard, it would basically be telling the players that they were bigger than the coach. And that is just setting a precedent that no coach should have to go through. That next coach would go in with the mindset that they had no power. If a player disagreed with something, they could go to the owner and get it fixed. Not getting enough touches? Not on the field enough? Go to Bud. He'll make sure you get some targets. Remember, this is a team with Randy Moss (for now). The last thing a new coach would need is to hear an aging, chemistry-killing whiner like Moss complain to the owner about how he's not getting playing time. And although he claims he wants to be a mentor for a young, budding star in Kenny Britt, we all know the diva in him would be bound to come out eventually.

And obviously having both VY and Fisher together is just too much of a hassle. To recap, Fisher never wanted to draft Young in the first place, but Adams did, so the owner won that battle. In the 2008 season opener Young was struggling and reacted poorly to the home crowd's boos. He refused to go in the game for a bit, then hurt his knee four plays later. Enter Kerry Collins, a 13-3 record, and the AFC's best record. Then last year, with Collins leading the team to an 0-6 start, Fisher finally relented and named Young the new starter. The team finished 8-8. But the success was short-lived, as in Week 2 of this year Young was pulled for the fourth quarter in a loss to the Steelers. Then, the tipping point. Week 11, Young hurts his thumb. He is apparently okay (he eventually went in injured reserve because of it), but Fisher refused to put him back in. The stories are conflicting. Young says he asked to go back in. Fisher claimed there was no such request. Either way, it ended with Young throwing his pads into the stands as he stormed into the locker room, then screaming at Fisher during the coach's post-game speech and walking out.

No, Adams made the right move in that respect. Coaches need to know they have more control than the players. And there is no shot of reconciling the relationship between the two.

But that leads me to this: why is Fisher still the coach? There are reports that the players backed Fisher and wanted him back, but their performance this season proved otherwise. There were times when they seemed to show little to no effort on the field, as if they were giving up on Fisher. The Titans lost eight of their last nine, and if you take out the two games against the Colts -- which were both very winnable in the last few minutes -- it was just a lackluster effort. Kerry Collins looked every bit of a 38-year-old man. Chris Johnson had no one blocking for him, but he also looked nothing like his 2009 form. The team looked stale.

Don't get me wrong. Jeff Fisher is a good football coach. But I think his time has run out in Tennessee. In 16 seasons what exactly has he accomplished? Three times he led the team to a 13-3 record. Okay, that's nice. But what differentiates a good coach from a great one is what they do in the postseason. And, well, his accomplishments are nothing special. He's been to the playoffs six times. The highlight was the one Super Bowl loss (remember "The Tackle"?) to the Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV. But since then? Divisional Round, AFC Title Game (2001, in which the Steelers were hosed in the Divisional Round on a B.S. roughing the kicker call in what was a classic Bill Cowher-jaw moment... but I digress), Divisional Round, Wild-Card, Divisional Round (with a first-round bye). That is nothing spectacular.

But perhaps most importantly, was there one time in any of those instances (2000, '02, '03, '07, '08) -- just one time -- when you seriously considered the Titans a threat to win the Super Bowl? Maybe in 2000, seeing as they were just one year removed from almost winning a title. But that was a decade ago. In 2008, when they went 13-3, the Colts and Steelers were considered the overwhelming favorites. With Fisher, the Titans will never have a two, three, or four win season. But there will never be that fear, that sense that they can go out and win a championship with Fisher at the helm and the personnel around him.

Bud Adams didn't make the wrong move in getting rid of Vince Young and keeping Jeff Fisher. But it wasn't the right move, either. It looks like next year could be rough for Tennessee. They don't have a quarterback. Chris Johnson -- all 5-11, 191 lbs of him -- has touched the ball 768 times the last two years in a league where running backs last an average of 2.7 years. The defense was 20th against the run and 29th against the pass.

Significant changes need to be made. Bud Adams made a good start. But now is the time to let go of Fisher, because otherwise a much more somber, and publicized, firing will have to occur.