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How Taylor Lewan lamented Mike Vrabel's Super Bowl run for Titans fans
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- How Taylor Lewan lamented Mike Vrabel's Super Bowl run for Titans fans
Former Tennessee Titans tackle Taylor Lewan offered a lament to and on behalf of Titans fans as his response to former Titans coach Mike Vrabel coaching the New England Patriots into the Super Bowl .
"These guys had something beautiful. Us, we had something beautiful at the Tennessee Titans ," Lewan said via his podcast recapping the AFC and NFC Championship games on his ' Bussin' With The Boys' channel . "And it's this cigarette-smoking, vape-sucking Daddy Vrabes. That's the guy who was getting it done for us. He had a down year in (2023). Amy Adams Strunk says 'Get your (expletive) out of here.'
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"Whatever happened, I know he went in for a meeting to talk about an extension, he came in, rumors were swirling about maybe he wanted a little more power, similar to what (Bill O'Brien) wanted when he was with the Houston Texans . That did not work out. They send him out of here. They enter in (Brian) Callahan. They enter in Ran Carthon. Those guys are now gone. And Robert Saleh's the head coach of the Tennessee Titans ."
Vrabel and the Patriots will face off against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl 60 on Feb. 8. It's a remarkable turnaround for a Patriots franchise that had gone 4-13 in each of the two years prior to Vrabel's arrival in 2025. Now the Patriots have a 14-3 season behind them as well as playoff wins against the Los Angeles Chargers , Houston Texans and Denver Broncos . Across those three playoff wins, Vrabel's New England defense has only allowed 26 points.
Vrabel coached the Titans from 2018-23, leading the franchise to the playoffs three times with a 54-45 overall record. His teams won two AFC South titles and earned the AFC's No. 1 seed following the 2021 season, a feat which earned Vrabel NFL Coach of the Year honors. But fates turned sour soon after, with the Titans losing seven straight to end the 2022 season to miss the playoffs, followed by a 6-11 showing in 2023 that culminated in Vrabel's dismissal.
Lewan played for Vrabel from 2018-22, a stretch that comprised the last five years of Lewan's playing career. He missed significant chunks of time with injuries over that period, but was still the Titans' primary left tackle across the dominant 2021 season as well as the run to the AFC Championship game after the 2019 season.
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"Listen, 2018, Vrabel comes in to the Titans. And the guy was a complete (expletive). … He talks about losers. Losers get in small groups and they talk about the situation that they're dealing with. Mike Vrabel had a lot of guys in small groups talking about Mike Vrabel in 2018. Talking about how this guy sucks, about how he's such an (expletive), all of those things.
"But regardless of what we thought about him in 2018, 2019 was a whole lot better. He eases up, starts being a players' coach, starts teaching the culture. And once he establishes the culture, buddy, it's incredible what he's able to do. And the fact that these kids, the guys, these gentlemen, these men (in New England), they've been able to sit back and take in Vrabel, his messaging, his culture and turn around their franchise, it's incredible."
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com . Follow Nick on X @nicksuss . Subscribe to the Talkin' Titans newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Ex-Titan Taylor Lewan lamented Mike Vrabel's Super Bowl run for Titans fans
